Why is it important to see characters that look and sound like us in the books we read? How do words shape the stories we tell ourselves? How can we look beyond the single story and raise up the other voices that need to be heard?

Stella Schools Ambassadors Leanne Hall and Rebecca Lim discussed these questions and more with Stella Schools Manager Bec Kavanagh this week during Stories for Everyone at the Melbourne Writers Festival.

Without diverse books @lilymandarin and Bec Lim felt excluded and not part of mainstream culture growing up. @MelbWritersFest

— The Stella Prize (@TheStellaPrize) August 29, 2016

Q: why matters to see yourself in cultural representations. A: @lilymandarin don’t think your story/life matters nor that you can write it

— The Stella Prize (@TheStellaPrize) August 29, 2016

Rebecca and Leanne discussed whitewashing in Hollywood, the importance of recognising yourself in cultural representations, subverting cultural stereotypes, and their recommendations for readers who want to consciously seek out and read more diverse YA stories.

To give you some idea of how ‘exotic’ some of her childhood reading seemed to Rebecca, she’s “re-imagined” passages from Trixie Belden and the Red Trailer Mystery (1970 edition) by Julie Campbell with Trixie as a Chinese migrant kid with traditional ‘tiger’ parents.

Download the slides from Stories for Everyone to learn which books Rebecca and Leanne read when they were young, the diverse YA books they recommend, and for a visual representation of why ‘Own Voice’ and ‘Diverse’ stories are so important.

Rebecca Lim’s diverse YA recommendations:

• The Other Shore by Hoa Pham
• Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
• The Diet Starts On Monday: Finding true Love Will Taste So Sweet by Tamar Chnorhokian
• Coming of Age: Growing up Muslim in Australia edited by Amra Pajalic and Demet Divaroren
• Huntress by Malinda Lo
• The Pause by John Larkin
• The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf by Ambelin Kwaymullina
• Act of Faith by Kelly Gardiner
• Are You Seeing Me? by Darren Groth
• Dark Dreams: Australian refugee stories edited by Sonja Dechian, Heather Millar, Eva Sallis
• The Good Daughter by Amra Pajalic

Leanne Hall’s diverse YA recommendations:

• Under A Painted Sky by Stacey Lee
• Laurinda by Alice Pung
• Becoming Kirrali Lewis by Jane Harrison
• Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green
• Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith
• The Flywheel by Erin Gough
• Songs That Sound Like Blood by Jared Thomas
• Little Paradise by Gabrielle Wang
• The Call by Peadar O’Guilin

Rebecca Lim is a writer, illustrator and lawyer based in Melbourne and the author of 16 books for children and young adult readers, which champion strong female protagonists and greater representations of diversity. Her most recent novels are The Astrologer’s Daughter (A Kirkus Best Book of 2015 and CBCA Notable Book for Older Readers) and Afterlight.

Leanne Hall is the award-winning author of novels for young adults including This Is Shyness and its sequel Queen of the Night. Iris and the Tiger is her first work for younger readers. Her work plays with the borders of reality and fantasy. Leanne has worked in the arts, educational publishing and as a bookseller, but her enduring passion is for youth literature.