I have also been trying to read a greater number of books by authors with diverse voices in 2024. These include books written by people from a diverse racial perspective from my own, from the non-binary community, or published originally in a language other than English, as well as stories by people from other cultural and religious communities. Through the process of reading more inclusively, my intention is to gain different perspectives and expand my world view.
Here is my list for 2024. Books originally published in a different language are listed as such, though I read the English translation.
- Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi – Americanah.
- Alyass, Ghofran – You Have 24 Hours to Live.
- Barbot de Vielneurve, Gabrielle Suzanne – The Beauty and the Beast (French).
- Barbery, Muriel – The Elegance of the Hedgehog (French).
- Baumann, Annabelle Baptista – Guurl, You Ain’t Crazy.
- Bulawayo, NoViolet – We Need New Names.
- Bulawayo, NoViolet – Glory.
- Chakraborty, SA – Daevabad03: The Empire of Gold.
- Clelland, Nick – Good Hope.
- Dabos, Christelle – Mirror Visitor04: The Storm of Echoes (French).
- Esquivel, Laura – Like Water for Chocolate (Spanish).
- Forna, Namina – Deathless01: The Gilded Ones.
- Habila, Helon – Travelers.
- Habila, Helon – Oil and Water.
- Jemisin, NK – Great Cities01: The City We Became.
- Kawabata, Yasunari – Snow Country (Japanese).
- Kuang, RF – Babel.
- Kwan, Kevin – Singapore01: Crazy Rich Asians.
- Mahfouz, Naguib Adrift on the Nile (Arabic).
- Man, Sue – On the Road to Jericho
- Nunn, Malla – When the Ground is Hard
- Obasogie, Osagie – Blinded by Sight: Seeing Race Through the Eyes of the Blind
- Okorafor, Nnedi – Who Fears Death0.5 The Book of Phoenix
- Yoshino, Kenji – Say the Right Thing
- Zafon, Carlos Ruiz – The Midnight Palace (Spanish).
- Zulu, Musa E – Mastering the Art of Self-Motivation: Tap into the Real You
Prevalent amongst these are books by authors who identify as being from Africa. I have particularly tried to read such books with an intention of reading one per month.
As you’ve probably noticed, there is a category of diversity not included in this article, that of disability, beyond books that are included for other reasons. I’ll be sharing the books about disability and those featuring characters with disabilities next time. That will also be my final blog for 2024.
As a postscript: Watch out for the publication of the second edition of my guide dog’s book Paws for Thought early in January. More about that in the new year!
