Show Up And Show Out For Authors Impacted By Barnes & Nobles’ Decision

Hello there! So if you have been on the interwebs recently (especially twitter), you may have heard about Barnes & Nobles’ nationwide decision to reduce the number of hardcover children’s books (including Middle Grade & Young Adult) titles they carry. If you haven’t heard about this, here is an article about this situation and Author Kelly Yang speaks out in this video. While Kelly speaks specifically about her books, she also mentions how this impacts other marginalized authors and from the looks of the books shown to be impacted, it’s predominantly POC/marginalized authors.

I was made aware of this policy change due to a tweet from Debut Author, Britney S. Lewis(who’s book JUST came out), in response to a tweet by @storysorcery on this topic. Can you imagine being a debut and finding this out AFTER your book comes out? It’s no less devastating finding it out in advance, really, Debut or not (which Kelly Yang is not a debut). I don’t think I have to tell you how incredibly disturbing this is; for the authors, their sales and for the future of books, especially for those of color.

I figured that in this post, I would share some titles that are impacted by this decision and their release dates. This list is not exhaustive as there are authors that are still finding out that their books would be impacted by this decision as it seems like the information is being released in a rollout-type fashion. I will definitely work to keep this list current as I find out others (or do follow up posts, if anything).

• The Undead Truth Of Us by Britney S. Lewis (YA) Out now
• Key Player by Kelly Yang (MG 4th in series) out 9/6
• Amira & Hamza: The Quest For The Ring Of Power by Samira Ahmed (MG, 2nd book) out 9/20 (Paperback of Book 1 out 8/30)
• The Vanquishers by Kalynn Bayron (MG) out 9/20
• The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton (MG) out now (I wrote a post about this amazing book, which you can read here)
• Sam’s Super Seats by Keah Brown (PB) out 8/23
• Iveliz Explains It All by Andrea Beatriz Arango (MG) out 9/13
• Omega Morales And The Legend of La Lucheza by Laekan Zea Kemp (MG) out 9/27
• Love Times Infinity by Lane Clarke (YA) Out now (this is a phenomenal book, btw)
• Merci Suárez Plays It Cool by Meg Medina (MG Final in Series) Out now
• Crown Of Flames by Sayantani DasGupta (MG 2nd in Series) Out 10/4
• Shad Hadid And The Alchemists Of Alexandria by George Jreije (MG) out 10/4

Here is a twitter thread from @BiruktiWrites with pre-order & ordering links. If you follow these authors on social media, they also share the local indies that will be carrying their books (thank Goodness for Indie Bookstores) and if you don’t follow them, I hope you will start. If you have it in your budget, please do support these authors at your local indie bookstores and even if you don’t have the funds, request their books at your local library. Nothing about this is easy for them and this will impact so many going forward, especially Authors Of Color, if this policy doesn’t change.

Are there any books by Authors Of Color that you’ve heard has been impacted by this that you didn’t see on this list? Do you feel a way about this like I do? Let me know in the comments or on social media. You can find me on Instagram @bookishgirlmagic, Twitter @bookishgrlmagic and Clubhouse @bookishgrlmagic where you can find me mostly in book centered clubs/rooms (primarily on Tuesdays and Fridays). Also please subscribe to this blog if you haven’t already because it makes me feel like Authors of Color are able to thrive in these crazy times! As usual, I’m sending you tons of bookish love & wish you happy reading!