Do you read books by African-American (AA) authors?
Many African-Americans will only read books by AA authors. Also, most bookstores have a separate section for AA books.
While I was growing up, there were few AA authors, so I read ANY NOVEL that I could find, the race of the author didn’t matter to me! I was joyous when the publishing scene exploded with lots of AA books (I was an adult by this time.)
My question to all of you is, if you are NOT African-American, do you mind reading African-American fiction? Do you feel that AA books are only written for other African-Americans? If you go to a bookstore, and see the AA section, would you go to that section and browse, or do you feel that those books are only for AA readers?
And if you are AA, do you ONLY read books by AA authors, or do you read books by people of all races? Over the years, I’ve met several African-Americans who tell me that they’ll only read AA authors.
I’ll start by responding to my own question. I’ll read a novel as long as it’s well-written and enjoyable. I don’t care if the author or characters are AA or not, I’m gonna read the book regardless. If I don’t like it, I won’t finish reading it!
I doubt that God would want us to separate our reading tastes like this. I’d think he’d want us to be open-minded and read books by authors of all races.
Leave your responses in the comments! 🙂
This is such a poignant topic. As an AA, I read books that are enjoyable, regardless of the author or character’s race. Since not many titles featuring AA characters are available in some of my favorite genres, I don’t know if that’s a catch-22. I wish they were more abundant. Unfortunately, a few of the books specifically aimed at AA can get into stereotypes (church scandals, gangs, hustler/businesswoman romantic pairings, etc.) that I’d rather stay away from.
The latter books I mentioned don’t adequately reflect upon AA experiences.
Hi, Brandi
Yes, there are books that are characterized as Christian fiction with AA characters. Some have a good, deep, inspirational message. However, I’ve read some that are well-written, exciting, with lots of drama, however, at times, I don’t always see the message in the book which allows it to be categorized as a Christian title. At times, the book has the church as part of the setting, and I believe that to some people (including the publisher(s)) that’s enough to group it with other Christian fiction titles.