“YA books that explore issues of racism, discrimination, prejudice and inequality – the types of books by authors of colour that publishers like to publish – are still vital. However, we need more stories, about the different facets of British youth culture, to be truly representative,” she said. (A quote from Marjorie Blackman)
It's a case of the literary agents/publishers finally seeing value in diverse authors, which kinda feels cheap but it's a win. I'm enjoying the stories told from a diverse perspective, but I am waiting for the day we can write any old rubbish story about Sally who had a midlife crisis and went to Bali to find herself but finds love... and be signed
. Gosh, I've read some cheese just because it had a nice cover and was on sale in Tesco. Black authors can absolutely produce cheese like it, and not necessarily from black perspectives. But currently, it's mostly our 'diverse perspective' that publishers want.