This week we highlight ‘Turning the Page: A Guide to Writing Cultural Diversity in Fiction’ created by author and former UP Project’s collaborator Vaseem Khan.
Available now but formally launching with an online event on 1 December, this series of free to watch videos and a downloadable PDF offers practical advice and guidance about tackling issues such as cultural appropriation, authenticity of voice, stereotyping and diversity within the publishing industry.
Vaseem Khan is the author of two crime series set in India, the Baby Ganesh Agency series set in modern Mumbai, and the Malabar House historical crime novels set in 1950s Bombay. His first book, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, was a Times bestseller, now translated into 15 languages.
“In it [Turning the Page: A Guide to Writing Cultural Diversity in Fiction], I look at the debate over who has the right to write which stories and how to write across cultural boundaries. I also offer thoughts from key industry stakeholders and examine lessons and recommendations for best practise.
The aim of the project is simple: to provide authors and industry professionals, such as agents, editors, marketers, and other decision-makers, with advice and tools on how to tackle the issue of writing diversity into literature in a way that minimises the chances of causing offence.”
The five videos that bring in voices from writers, readers and industry professionals tackle the themes of:
- Diversity in Fiction: A review of the landscape
- Cultural Appreciation vs Cultural Misappropriation
- Write what you know: Mining your Heritage
- Write what you know: Writing in the Forbidden Zone
- Lessons, recommendations, and a check list for creating diverse characters in fiction