A More Diverse Universe: The Wrap-Up

7 Days of #Diversiverse.

55 Authors Discovered.

61 Titles Read.

82 Participants.

90 Posts to Drive Change.

When I first came up with the idea for the A More Diverse Universe tour, I never thought it would grow so huge.  There was not much planning involved, the time frame for describing it to everyone and encouraging people to promote it was very tight, and the sign-up time frame was really close to the actual week of activity.  Many, many thanks to Vasilly and Heidenkind who were instrumental in pulling this event together.  Thanks to Kailana for stepping in to help when I asked her at the 11th hour.  Thanks to Alex and Anachronist for the buttons.  Thanks to everyone who signed up on GoodReads and to everyone who spread the word on Twitter.  Thanks to Care for the fantastic #diversiverse hashtag! 

And thanks, most of all, to everyone who participated.  The response was amazing.  I cannot even describe the feeling - I hope I don't need to because you all probably have the same one, a thrill when you see a schedule that goes on and on, at links and tweets and posts and people that were not originally part of the event but wanted to be involved so participated, anyway.  Of so many authors that are now just a little bit better known than they were before, and are on so many more wish lists and Buy Instantly lists than they were before.  Of so many books that you have read and inspired others to read and that they will then read and inspire others to read in a virtuous cycle that, we hope, will never end.

I struggled with calling this a Wrap-Up post because things like this should never be wrapped up.  #Diversiverse is only a week long, but that's not where it ends.  It is the impetus.  It's up to you to internalize it.  Did you find an author you liked?  Read more of him.  Tell others to read him.  Did you add books to your wish list?  Buy them.  Tell others to buy them.  Because, as I've said before, reading is a political act.  It's an economic act.  It's voting with your dollars and with your time and with your word-of-mouth power.  And if you want to see less white-washing and less stereotyping and more diversity and more fresh thinking, then you need to prove it with your actions.

This won't be the last A More Diverse Universe reading event.  We'll do it again, and try to make it even bigger and better than this go-round.  But in the meantime, please look at the #Diversiverse schedule and read some of the many books featured.