Alexandra Duncan has canceled her young adult novel Ember Days just days after the cover reveal. Mere moments after her reveal fellow author Bethany C. Morrow questioned the representation within the novel, noted in the book’s description: “Naomi is the granddaughter of a powerful Gullah conjure woman, sent to Charleston to combat an evil force circling the city and hiding in plain sight as Deidre’s protégé.”
The Gullah people as you may not know are and underrepresented people so questions were raised regarding the idea of a white woman writing about a people and culture she may not understand.
Due to this, Duncan made the decision herself to cancel the novel, leaving a statement on Twitter.
In response to this, Duncan’s publisher also released a statement:
We support Alexandra Duncan’s decision to withdraw her manuscript and to not go forward with the publication of her novel Ember Days. We look forward to working with her on new projects in the future.
Greenwillow, an imprint of HarperCollins
Like What You See?
Don’t forget to follow Cyn’s Workshop on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Spotify | YouTube | BookBub | Goodreads | LinkedIn to stay tuned for more like this.
I hate self-flagellating woke white leftists like Alexandra Duncan! Boycott all of her books! I hope they all get cancelled! I’m a black man!
I work at a bookstore and this is something that often comes up a lot in discussion with all books. I think it all sets a dangerous precedent. I’m latina and Native American I personally don’t mind someone who is white writing about it. I think as long as the writer does not lean into cliche and untrue stereotypes and is respectful of the culture they are representing it’s fine in my book. I also think it’s a little unfair. So as a Latina does this mean I can only write about Latina characters? I feel like it’s creating boxes for authors of what they can and cannot do. Imagination exists outside of boxes.
Please pull this. This creates the impression that Bethany Morrow is responsible for the book cancellation. I have heard from other writers that Alexandra Duncan consulted widely (including with some of them) before making her decision. People on reddit are running away with the story that one woman bullied another, which is not what happened.
I didn’t in any way mean it to give it that impression. I’m aware that Duncan consulted other authors but Morrow is the one who initially highlighted the issue and I’m glad she did because it did need to be addressed. I included Duncan’s statement regarding the fact that she did consult other authors. Which I wanted readers to read.
So authors need to be exactly like their characters they create from their own imagination? This is scary.
Woke insanity!