Why we host a month full of diversity...

So here's the deal. Diversity Month hadn't always started out as Diversity Month. 

We wanted to end our first year in blogging about diversity right. Guinevere had recently read and loved "The UnNaturalists" by Tiffany Trent and loved it, and reached out to host an interview.

We couldn't very well just have one interesting interview in the month of December, so we started asking other friends, mostly authors(particularly ones who wrote diversely) if we had an event that was specifically geared toward diversity, would they show up?

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 29: Blogger/Social Activist Interview w/ The Goldfish +Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

When it comes to certain blogs, we admit we have favorites. Before we started blogging, there was much we didn't know about many marginalizations we aren't apart of. We couldn't imagine only writing about what we knew. Because isn't that what they say? Write what you know?

But what if you don't want to just write about what you know?

Last Week of our Diversity Month Event! -Twinja Book Reviews 2nd Annual Diversity Month+Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

We're so sad to say our Diversity Month is almost over =(

We've hosted amazing interviews featuring agents, authors, librarians and bloggers, all in the name of diversity, and we can't wait to start preparing for next year's event.

We have just a few days left in this month, so we wanted to make sure everyone stayed tuned for our last guests! 

Our last guests are personal favorites, in terms of giving both Libertad and I growth, as far as the diversity conversation and making our representation stronger with how we handle marginalizations that we may lack the knowledge in ourselves. We've gotten the chance to meet one of our last guests(as well as a few of our other guests this month) but his words meant so much to us when we heard him speak at 2014's BookCon. 

And our blogger guest, her blog has taught us more about Gender/Sexuality and Disability Equality than we could have ever known. It's such an honor to be able to have her, we honestly don't think there's a better blog out there that details representation better than her.

So here's the schedule:

Week Five
December 29th: Blogger Interview w/ Social Activist and Novelist @ The Goldfish

December 30th: Author Interview w/ Lamar Giles, Author of "Fake ID" and upcoming release "Endangered"

December 31st: Home Post "Why We Do Diversity Month" and our December "Martial Artist Spotlight

a Rafflecopter giveaway

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 27:Blogger Interview w/ Librarian Hannah +Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

So today's guest is the awesome-smaw-some Librarian Hannah Gomez.

We had the pleasure of meeting her at this year's KidLitCon(which by the way was intimidating XD)

And it occurred to us, that this would be the prefect opportunity to ask if she might participate in our 2nd Annual Diversity Month.

We featured her on our list of "Why We Need Diverse Bloggers" when we highlighted Black book bloggers during Black Speculative Fiction Month, but it's still the tip of the iceberg of what makes the writer of Mclicious.org tick!

Her experience in libraries was also what made her a great choice, as we wanted to open our floor to librarians, the real gateway to children and diverse books.

If you dont know her, you will today!

Twinja Book Reviews Presents Hannah Gomez

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 26: Author Interview w/ Joseph Bruchac +Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

It is with great pleasure to introduce our next guest. He might just be the most decorated author we've gotten the chance to interview for Diversity Month. He has so many awards and honors, not to mention titles, that in his 30+ years as an author is inspiration to all writers.

He's one of the most prolific authors of Native American/American Indian ancestry(honorable mentions are also Cynthia Leitich Smith and Sherman Alexie, for those of you who need a start!)and has always created a door for characters of Native American/American Indian ancestry.

We featured him during our "Diversify Your Steampunk" event last April with a guest post.

But it just seems even more appropriate to interview him for our Diversity Month. You probably know him already...

Introducing Joseph Bruchac!

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 25: Author Interview w/ Justina Ireland +Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

Happy Holidays everyone! If you celebrate the holidays, we hope you're having a Merry one! Today we have an awesome Xmas gift!

We were soon excited to get this next author! I read her book(after Libby's obsession with the Percy Jackson series, and the consistent spoilers she gave me)in hopes to read a character of color in a Greek mythology setting.

What rocked the most about "Promise of Shadows" was the it's heroine! She was a blue haired, dreadlocked black girl, with the power to change her people's situation. How cool is that?

As a essential voice in the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign, we got to chat with her about diversity, her books, and obviously her awesome-ness!

You probably already know her, but we always introduce accordingly!

Twinja Book Reviews readers...Meet Justina Ireland!

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 24: Publisher Interview w/ Stacy Whitman of Tu Books +Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

There isn't a better way to start the holidays than to have our next guest!

So we've been trying to get this woman FOREVER! She's extremely busy, because she's out there grinding and editing diverse books! She's very well known in the #WeNeedDiverseBooks conversation, and has attended many events(See this year's ComicCon) to address diversity in books.

Tu Books, her project of love and dedication, is actually an imprint of Lee & Low, that focuses on all the genres of fiction we love(sci-fi, fantasy, mystery and historical fiction) that center on characters of color at the forefront.

We're so happy to finally host her on our blog, because she's one of the best editors that are also champions for diversity! If you don't know her, you'll know her now!

Introducing: Stacy Whitman!

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 23: Author Interview w/ Thelonious Legend +Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

So we've been gracious enough to host a whole new set of authors this year for our 2nd Annual Diversity Month. There aren't a ton of male bloggers. Or at least ones whom are authors, who are talking about more than their books.

This next author blogs about all things diversity, from young girl's self esteem, to representation in comics and movies. He even has his own book called "Sins of The Father" which features three affluent Black sisters who gain superpowers!

It's a pleasure to host him! Everybody, meet Thelonious Legend!

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 22: Author Interview w/ Josh Farrar +Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

OMG, so this author we stumbled upon by accident and I swear it has been the best unforeseen event of 2014! His book, A Song for Bijou topped our Favorites list so imagine our excitement to finally get a chance to chat with him about our favorite thing in the world:

Diverse Books!

So sit down, have a coffee and maybe get to know this amazing author a little better!

Ready for Week 4?-Twinja Book Reviews 2nd Annual Diversity Month+Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

Last week? A whomping success. Many of our featured guests let their friends and readers know about our Diversity Month event, as well as you awesome bloggers.

There were so many great guests last week, but the best(or should I say equally best) is yet to come!

I should also mention, that recently Guinevere did a guest post on GayYa! It's set to post in a few days, and hopefully we'll get to see them during our Diversity Month event, but in the meantime, here is this week's awesome-sauce schedule!

#LegendofKorraFinale

 That Ending...

That is all...

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 20: Author Interview w/ Veronica Chambers +Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

So today's awesome author is a woman we've been a fan of for more than a decade. Our first exposure to her was in the awesome article(which we still have, but is nowhere to be found on the internet!) in Latina magazine titled "Will The Real Latina Please Stand Up?"

It was dated in July 2002, and featured three women, all Latina(one white, one black, and one mestizo) who often had to prove their latin identity, especially to others who were Latino.

This article was a friggin turning point for us. Never had we seen our own experience articulated ANYWHERE. We were in love with Veronica Chambers ever since then. That article showed us we had nothing to prove. We were Black. We were Latino. We were both.

This is the first time we've ever tried to contact her, so we were THRILLED she wanted to participate in our Diversity Month event!

Now, with our further adieu!

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 19: Blogger Interview w/ Terry Hong of +Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

So we're always excited to re-introduce a site that people are probably already familiar with. If you don't know about it BookDragon, you should! It's one of the best book blogging resources to highlight diversity in books, especially main characters, or authors of Asian and Pacific Islander descent.

We got to hang out with the multitalented, multifaceted Terry Hong, the face behind the magic, to talk about how BookDragon started, what BookDragon's about, and some of her favorite books!

Now without further adieu...

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 17: Author Interview w/ Sarah Benwell +Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

Today we have a very special guest in our Diversity Month series and we're so happy to have gotten to know a little better through social media. Her name is Sarah Benwell and she's queer & proud, extremely dedicated to diversity in books and if it couldn't get any better, she's English.(Love English authors!)

 If you don't know much about her now, trust me in a few months YOU WILL! 

  We hope you will keep an eye out for what she has in store. She's already managed to make fans out of us!

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 16: Author Interview w/ Barry Lyga+Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

Okay, okay, okay!So this next author a part of our series is someone we've tried to catch up with for a while and we're so happy to have FINALLY gotten a chance to interview him. 

For those of you like us who have a penchant for...unorthodox themes or topics in YA, you might already know Barry Lyga. He's not out there writing about skin that glitters in the sunlight or predictable love triangles, instead he chose a risque theme to center off his successful Jasper Dent books:

Serial Killers

So for those of you that don't know him, get to know him. You won't regret it when you do!

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 14: Blogger Interview w/ Deva @UPBookBlog +Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

We first discovered this blogger well before we started blogging ourselves and were happy to see that other people were really interested in diverse characters enough to dedicate a blog to it. There were a bunch of us already talking about the diversity in books movement well before it became this gigantic hashtag and this opinionated blogger was one who kept the conversation going. Let's hear a round of applause for Deva @ Urban Paranormal...

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 13: Guest Post w/ Librarian Kelly Jensen+Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway! @catagator

OMG this next post comes from the amazing Librarian/Blogger Kelly Jensen, who we didn't get the chance to talk to at kidlitcon but during her panel her words just really stuck out to us. 

She was the only one to talk about a topic that many rarely include in the diversity conversation:

*Plus Sized Protagonists*

We're so pleased to have her express her feelings in a post and we totally promise you, it's so worth the read! So without further delay...

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 12:Book Tour-Author Interview w/ Madhuri Blaylock +Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

Are we on Day 12 already? Seems like it. Today's guest is totally bad-ass and absolutely amazing and the best part? She's amazingly Indie. Say what you want about Indie authors, but they'll always have a space on Twinja Book Reviews for their inclusion, something sometimes we don't feel like the traditional world isn't doing enough of. If you don't know Madhuri Blaylock, we hope with this next interview, you'll look her up and look into her work because we promise, she's got some awesome books in the works!

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 11: Author Interview w/ Steven Dos Santos +Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway! @stevendossantos

We're so honored to have this next author as our guest today because if you aren't familiar with him, you really should be! Steven Dos Santos is a superhero in his field and If every superhero has a catch phrase his would be:

Embrace the D.A.R.K( Diversity. Action. Romance, KickAss)

Don't you already want to get to know him?

He's got Adventure, He's got diversity, He's got Sci-Fi, so all you have to do is ask yourself this: Why aren't I a fan yet?

2nd Annual Diversity Month Day 10 : Blogger Interview w/ Librarian Edith @CrazyQuilts +Kindle Fire 6" and Book Giveaway!

So today our guest is a Librarian who we've been a fan of since we really started blogging. Waaaaaay before the #weneeddiversebooks campaign she was one of the bloggers who were already discussing the lack of diversity in books and dedicated her blog to highlighting books that did. We actually had the opportunity to meet her this past October and she was just as amazing in person as she is on her blog. Definitely a Librarian we'd want in our community!

#weneeddiverseLibrarians