MG & YA Authors of Color Published in 2011

Last year I compiled a list of the Latino MG/YA authors published in 2010. There were just 14 MG/YA novels written by Latino authors. Author Zetta Elliott compiled a list of Black MG/YA authors published in 2011 - There were just 35 MG/YA novels written by Black authors. This year I will be looking at all the books published by authors of color who are not Black and comparing the total of authors published to Elliott's list.

2 American Indian authors published
1.Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Candlewick, Aug. 23)
2.Wolf Mark by Joseph Bruchac (Tu publishing, Sept 15)

28 Asian authors published
1.The Great Wall of Lucy Lu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang (Scholastic, Jan.1)
2.Clara Lee & Apple Pie Dream by Jenny Han (Little Brown, Jan. 4)
3.Jazz in Love by Neesha Meminger (Self Published, Jan. 10)
4..Dark Goddess by Sarwat Chadda (Hyperion, Jan. 25)
5.Tall Story by Candy Gourlay (David Fickling, Feb.8)
6.Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhhai Lai (Harpercollins, Feb.22)
7. Lost and Found by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine, March 1)
8. Warp Speed by Lisa Yee (Arthur A. Levine, March 1)
9. Rocket Girls by Housuke Nojiri (Viz Media, March 15)
10. Odd Girl In by Jo Whittemore ( Aladdin, March 22)
11.Fury of the Phoenix by Cindy Pon (Greenwillow, March 29)
12.Huntress by Malinda Lo (Little Brown, April 5)
13.The Grand Plan to Fix Everything by Uma Krishnaswami ( Atheneum, May 24)
14.Level Up by Gene Luen Yang ( First Second, June 7)
15.The Detention Club by David Yoo (Brazer+Bray, June 21)
16.Bestest Ramadan Ever by Medeia Sharif (Flux, July 8)
17.Vanished by Sheela Chari (Hyperion, July 26)
18.Stir it Up by Ramin Ganeshram (Scholastic, Aug 1)
19.Island's End by Padma Venkatraman (Putnam Juvenile, Aug. 4)
20.Money Boy by Paul Yee (Groundwork, Aug. 23)
21. Drawing from Memory by Allen Say (Scholastic Press, Sept 1)
22.Alvin Ho: Allergic to Dead Bodies, Funerals, and Other Fatal Circumstances by Lenore Look (Schwartz & Wade, Sept. 13)
23.Dragon of Silk by Laurence Yep (Harpercollins, Sept. 13)
24.Sita Ramayana by Sita Brahmachari (Groundwood, Sept. 27)
25.There Is No Long Distance Now by Naomi Shihab Nye (Greenwillow, Oct. 11)
26.Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow by Daniel Nayeri (Candlewick, Oct. 25)
27.Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi ( Harpercollins, Nov. 15)
28.Legend by Marie Lu (Putnam Juvenille, Nov 29)

17 Latino authors published
1.The Trouble With Half A Moon by Danette Vigilante (Putnam, Jan. 26)
2.Hidden by Tomas Mournian (Kensington, Feb. 1)
3.SkateFate by Juan felipe Herrera (Rayo, Feb. 22)
4.Hurricane Dancers by Margarita Engle (Henry Holt and Co. March 15)
5.Boyfriends With Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez (Simon&Schuster, April 29)
6.You Don't Have A Clue edited by Sarah Cortez ( Pinata, April 30)
7.If I Could Fly by Judith Ortiz Cofer (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, May 24)
8.The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Spain) (Little Brown, May 31)
9.Tomas and the Magic Race Cars by Ramon Mesa Ledesma ( Two Harbors, July 1)
10.Stolen Girl by Yxta Maya Murray (Razorbill, July 7)
11.Dancing Home by Alma Flor Ada (Atheneum, July 12)
12.Dreams of Significant Girls by Cristina Garica (Simon&Schuster, July 12)
13.Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia Mccall ( Lee&Low, Sept 9)
14.How Tia Lola Ended Up Starting Over by Julia Alvarez (Knopf, Sept 13)
15.What Can't Wait by Ashley Hope Perez (Carolrhoda, Sept 29)
16.The Cheshire Cheese Cat by Carmen Deedy & Randall Wright (Peachtree, Oct. 1)
17. Maximilian and the Mystery of the Guardian Angel by Xavier Garza (Cinco Puntos, Oct 18)

3 authors of Mixed heritage published
1.Illegal by Bettina Restrepo (Katherin Tegae, March 8)
2. The Boy at the End of the World (Bloosmbury, June 21)
3.Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson (Flux, July 8)

50 MG/YA authors of color (excluding Black authors) published in 2011. Since a few of the authors listed released two titles in 2011, the heading of each purposely states the number of authors published as opposed to novels written.

Before comparing this to Elliott's list of Black MG/YA authors published in 2011 I must point out a few things.

I went over this list several times and had it checked by others, however I know there's still a margin of error, including having forgotten or been unaware of some authors.

You Don't Have A Clue edited by Sarah Cortez is a collection of short story mysteries by 18 Latino authors.

One of Elliott's criteria was U.S. based authors only. In the end, since I don't think it matters where a novel was published first as long as it was published in The United States, I decided to include the four titles by none U.S. based authors, Tall Story, Lost and Found, Dark Goddess and Sita's Ramayana. However Elliott's focus on U.S. based authors did not impact the results since there were no MG/YA imports by Black authors published this year in the U.S.

I included one self published novel, Jazz in Love. This was a very difficult decision, truth be told it probably should have been left off, since one point of this list is to count titles by mainstream publishers. In the end the decision to keep Meminger's novel, came down to two reasons. I interviewed the author this year which leads me to my first reason. I am biased and I freely admit that because Jazz in Love is good. Which leads me to my second reason, Meminger's first novel was published by mainstream publisher and it felt wrong to leave off her second, which is as good and in some cases better than other books I've read this year

The biggest limitation for this feature is that I did not have the opportunity or means in which to allow authors to self identify. I did my best to correctly classify everyone, including in some cases researching name origins. However if I did incorrectly classify an author, my apologies. My only intention was to show how middle grade and young adult authors of color are still underrepresented.

I've said enough, so now I will let the numbers speak for themselves.

There were 35 Black MG/YA authors published in 2011

Combined (excluding Black authors) there were 50 MG/YA authors of color published in 2011

Including the 18 Latino authors from the short story collection - its a grand total of 102 MG/YA authors of color published in 2011. Without the boost from the collection the number drops to 85

Everyone who looked this over was very helpful. I want to especially thank librarian/blogger Edi Campbell, her input was much need and appreciated. Also without her I would've overlooked several authors.