It’s midnight and I’m on vacation, so keeping this brief in hopes that I’ll be able to report back more positively later in the week.
A couple weeks ago I gave an interview to a reporter at the New York Times on the subject of sensitivity readers (for my general opinions, see my previous blog post, which I wrote up right after an NPR interview on the same subject earlier this year). When the article was finally released, I was shocked at how my words had been used. I went on a Twitter rant you can read here.
I’ve emailed the author of the piece expressing my issues with the quote and asking that she rectify the situation. She replied by explaining her intentions and inviting me to write a letter to the editor. I wrote back explaining in more depth why her choice of quotes misrepresented my position and was damaging to the discussion, and requesting either a correction or a removal of myself from the piece.
I try very hard to assume good intentions, and I have every hope that the author of the article will do what is right. Hopefully the discussions happening now will finally, FINALLY inspire someone to write a better take on sensitivity/authenticity readers in kidlit: one that centers someone other than the authors. Like, you know, the young readers or something. Maybe.
I’ll report back if there’s an update of any kind, but for now I’m going to bed. Goodnight, all.
