Q. I have heardthe term “Own Voices” used to describe certain types of books lately. Can you tell me what that term means?
A. The term “Own Voices” was created in 2015 by young adult author Corinne Duyvuis. Duyvuis wanted to create a hashtag (#) on Twitter to help “recommend kidlit about diverse characters written by authors from that same diverse group.”
So what does that mean? Basically, the term #OwnVoices is used to identify books written by authors who share a marginalized or under-represented identity with the protagonist they are writing about. This identity could include race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability-impairment, class, religion, etc. For example, a book with a blind protagonist written by a blind author would be considered an #OwnVoices book.
