“Diversity” has been a hot topic for years. Companies and social media propel the need for diversity in the workplace, but the book industry is struggling to keep up. Diversity in literature allows for personal reflection, a sense of comfort and makes us wonder “whose voices are we seeing and hearing the most?” Sara Guo is a Chinese Canadian and first-year student at Queen’s University in the Smith Commerce program. At 16, she published a book titled “One Point in Time: To All East Asian Youth” after seeing the rise in discrimination and xenophobia towards the East Asian population during COVID-19. From dumplings to the Model Minority Myth, her book features a compilation of free-verse poems reflective of both her personal and shared experiences growing up in a
western country. She hopes her book is something East Asian youth can relate to, especially during these times where connectivity seems so hard to achieve. Since publishing, her book climbed to #25 in its respective genre on Amazon and she has been featured on CBC and
OMNI Television. Join her to discuss the importance of diversifying literature and specifically, ways in which you can add more diversity in the books you read or the media you consume. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx