Guest Post: Angie Elita Newell talks about the importance of a diverse bookshelf

When it comes to picking up books now, there are so many choices and Angie Elita Newell knows that. From the first line of her guest post, you'll see why.

In particular though, the author is passionate about making sure people are reading diverse and inclusive stories. Regardless if you have a favorite genre or not, there is no shortage of inclusive reads to be found.

That's why I was so happy when Angie Elita Newell decided to share why diversifying your bookshelf is such a great idea. Thankfully, that's something we've very passionate about on Culturess so featuring this went hand-in-hand with what we already cover.

Before getting into the guest post, I'd like to thank Greenleaf Book Group for setting this up and Angie Elita Newell for sharing this post with us.

Angie Elita Newell share her thoughts on diversifying your bookshelf.

I own over a thousand books, easily. I remember starting my undergraduate degrees–which I obtained in history, English literature, and creative writing–those first days in the class, other students began to gripe at the stacked reading lists. I remember leafing through them with joy. I had already read almost all the assigned reading.

I grew up on a steady diet of nineteenth-century and twentieth-century literature and poetry, which I guess is sort of odd. I am a millennial, but what makes it even odder is that I am indigenous. I am an American Indian born to the Liidliii Kue Nation from Fort Simpson in the Northwest Territories of Canada, the subarctic tundra. My name is Angie Elita Newell and I am the author of the novel, All I See is Violence.

Anyone who has read my work knows that I grapple with big ideas which influence our current reality, and grounding and guiding my work is the teachings and wisdom of my ancestors. I am a historian and a mother, I am heavily tattooed and love strong espresso, I am a coffee bean connoisseur and I’ll pretty much read anything. I have been that way since I have been able to read.

I learned to read at an early age, and advanced quickly with it. A respite from a chaotic childhood, books provided me with a temporary oasis from the chaos, and they also filled a very empty void, giving me a connection to someone, to something going through similar experiences to that which I was facing. Even if they were fictitious, even if they were in a time, place and ethnicity different from mine, the books that I read connected me to something bigger than myself, comforting someone too young to fully process the trauma they were living through.

Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Charlotte Brontë, Virginia Wolf and Ernest Hemingway, these writers and their stories of somewhat harsh prose didn’t weigh on me in an already weighted situation, they lifted me up. These authors and their stories inspired my imagination to attune to a reality unlike but totally like my own. You could journey down rivers, try to tame a bull, discover beauty growing in memories forgotten, and fall in a love with a person others deem ugly all from a comfortable seat anywhere in the world. I have a book with me and read everywhere, beneath trees filtering sunlight, on park benches, in my favourite chair. Books are extraordinary and special in their capacity that their environment doesn’t affect their quality of the experience they produce, and where books also have an advantage over other mediums of art is that the reader is in full control of the vision it produces. We all project our own worldview onto the art we consume, that is what makes it subjective. Our life experiences vary our interpretations of the world around us and literature has the power to pull it all back together.

The wisdom of my ancestors, their teachings that we are of all one unified consciousness connected to the great creator is a teaching I have grown into. This teaching is anchored in the knowing what we are made from a higher frequency and we all always have a choice in the decisions we make, we are all creators creating and can be anything we want to be. Embarking with this truth has enabled me to see the beauty in this earth, even in that which some would cast to be shroud in darkness I can see the light and writers either knowingly or unknowingly share this with the readers whom embark on their journey through reading their text. So my suggestions would be to journey to places you’ve never been, for it may reveal a deeper version of yourself. Diversification of your bookshelf is just one step in this great journey of life.

All I See is Violence by Angie Elita Newell is out now where books are sold.

As someone who is a huge propotent for reading diversely, I adored how Angie Elita Newell broke everything down. She talked about her own journey while sharing tips on how to steer your own reading journey and take those chances. While everyone doesn't have a linear path to reading diversely, it comes with time and wanting to make those changes.

Regardless, this is a topic that comes perfectly in line as Black History Month was in February and we're celebrating Women's History Month in March. If anything,that gives you the perfect excuse to read inclusively as well.