Our safe, white scene has rules if you want to be a ‘multicultural’ writer

Sharpen your pencils, this week there is another writers’ festival. But if you think it’s tough deciding which sessions you’ll attend, spare a thought for authors forced to navigate the minefield that is the safe middle-class white literary world. And it’s even worse if you’re a minority writer –from a marginalised or underrepresented group, such as an ethnic or racial minority, LGBTQ+ individuals, or people with disabilities.

To be a successful minority writer, you need to look the part. Of course, you can’t look too much like a minority. We must learn from others such as Melbourne writer Dmetri Kakmi who was told by an editor that his book would need a pseudonym, as “genre readers will not fork out hard-earned pennies dreadful for a supernatural adventure written by ‘an ethnic writer’.” You see, if you actually lean in to your culture and heritage, you are marred with the stereotypes associated with that. Show off your diversity and your culture, just don’t make it too obvious.

There are rules you’ll need to follow if you want to win over readers. Credit: Morgan Roberts

Share your culture and experience, the stories of hardship that you personally, your people, or your community have experienced. This is your contribution to the Oz Lit scene and the reason you are getting published. However, there are a few things to keep in mind. When writing about characters based on the world you live in, or grew up in, don’t use too much profanity or represent the way these people actually speak and interact. Represent these people authentically, but make them sound more elevated and refined. Your book needs to be palatable to most of your readers, and we don’t want to offend them.

Be careful not to traumatise the reader by sharing, well, our actual trauma. The reader needs to be engaged in your world and see the hardship, live vicariously through our experiences, and look at themselves and their world in a positive light. But these readers are also delicate creatures, and by engaging in too much trauma, they might flinch and be too affected. If you really must delve into those experiences, use a content warning to assist these readers in reading your book in the manner it is intended, with great trepidation and warning.

You will be invited to take part in public speaking events with wealthy organisations and institutions, but you will not be paid. After all, they are giving you an entrée into a world you can only dream about, and you need to be grateful for it. In return, you are to metaphorically sing for your supper by telling authentic stories about your culture.

When promoting your book, there will be many people in your audience who don’t interact with many diverse people. They want to learn. They really, really do. But they don’t want to be made to feel too uncomfortable about racism or stigma or prejudice that you or your community has been subjected to, well, by people like them. So try to cast these stories in a positive light, perhaps emphasising their country has saved you, and how grateful you and your family/community are.

As a member of your community, you are sharing your own experiences, but don’t forget, you will now forever be the representative of your community to your readers. In the future, they will always refer to the “generic” experience of your culture through your lens. As such, you also have a large responsibility to represent your community, which means, don’t air out any dirty laundry or cast your culture in a poor light. Or you’ll make yourself a pariah in both worlds. Share truth, but not too much. Make sure everyone feels comfortable.

Engage in social activism, after all, the Australian publishing scene has long been a vocal supporter of whatever issue is in the media. We are a progressive lot. However, make sure your activism is about an issue that is not too fraught with controversy. Otherwise, you risk tanking your book sales, your public speaking opportunities and future publication opportunities.

If you are unsure how to truly bond with readers, bring plates of food from your cultural background. This will lead to many long conversations about the ingredients, where to buy them, and how to make your food. I think we can all agree that the greatest gift multiculturalism has given us is diverse food. It’s even made us all multilingual – we know how to say banh mi, empanada and tiramisu. Even better, do a cooking demonstration for your readers. Even though they can buy this food themselves, the experience of actually being able to say they cooked an authentic cultural meal from someone in that culture, well, they can dine on that story at their dinner parties and barbecues for months.

Follow all these rules, and you will have a long, productive career as a multicultural author, and you will win prizes, get some grants, and be beautifully reviewed, even though your writing will be described as “gritty.” You will still need to treat your writing as a side hustle and have a day job to pay your bills and survive. But it’s worth it because your parents broke their backs working in factories to give you this amazing opportunity to call yourself a sometimes writer.

Amra Pajalic is an award-winning author, editor and teacher who draws on her Bosnian cultural heritage. She is owner of Pishukin Press that published Complication: Short Stories by Fikret Pajalic in which he celebrates the contribution of refugees to Australian society.

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