Unlocking New Perspectives: The Power of Diverse Fiction Reading

In a rapidly evolving world, our ability to lead with empathy, understanding, and innovation is paramount. 🌟 One way to enhance these skills is by diving into fiction books penned by authors from diverse backgrounds. 📖 

Doing so can:
🌎 Broaden horizons.
🤝 Increase cultural awareness and understanding of historical and social contexts.
💡 Empower marginalized voices and reduce stereotyping. 
🚀 Enhance creativity and imagination, encouraging us to approach challenges with fresh, innovative solutions.
🧠 Improve communication skills and how to navigate various viewpoints

🌟 As leaders, we have the privilege and responsibility to create environments where diversity and inclusion thrive. Reading diverse fiction is a small yet powerful step towards achieving this. 

As many of us head out on vacation this August, make your summer read a book that comes from a different perspective. Let’s commit to exploring stories that enrich our understanding, foster unity, and guide us in leading with empathy and authenticity.

Here are some of my favorite diverse fiction reads:

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich – This novel capture a splintering America during the pandemic from the perspective of a formally incarcerated Native American, providing an account of the first months of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd. [Summary by NPR]

White Teeth by Zadie Smith – This novel follows first-generation immigrants who look back on their old lives, and the lives of their parents in Bangladesh and the Caribbean, with a mixture of perplexity and fear. The children of these immigrants, in turn, have little real feeling for the experiences and histories of their parents. [Review by The Guardian]

The Sellout by Paul Beatty – A biting satire about a young man’s isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court. It challenges the sacred tenets of the United States Constitution, urban life, the civil rights movement, the father-son relationship, and the holy grail of racial equality—the black Chinese restaurant. [Review by NPR]

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz – This read centers around two Mexican-American teenagers in EL Paso, Texas in 1987 as they explore when the line between friendship and romantic love starts to blur together — an experience that can be even harder to navigate when you’re trying to understand your own sexuality at the same time. [Details on upcoming movie by Out Magazine]

Lesson in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus – Taking place in the 1960 where the protagonist, a scientist whose career takes a detour when she becomes the star of a beloved TV cooking show after her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. [Review by The Gaurdian]

Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin – The novel is about two friends who make video games. It’s also about how people grow and grieve in the real world. [Summary by The Washington Post]

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen – a conflicted subversive and idealist working as a double agent in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. [Interview with NPR]

Men without Women by Haruki Murakami – Across seven tales, Murakami brings his powers of observation to bear on the lives of men who, in their own ways, find themselves alone. [Review by LA Review of Books]

Share your favorite diverse fiction reads below! Let’s inspire each other to embrace the richness of our world’s narratives. 🌈📚