“Whenever we see one of us in the international media—whether in pageants, sports, and others—it makes us feel super proud because we feel invisible on the world stage.”
FiyahCon is an event hosted by the Fiyah Literary Magazine that puts Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) writers under the spotlight.
It was founded by Filipino writer Vida Cruz and her teammates L.D. Lewis, Brent Lambert, and Iori Kusano.
This convention was nominated for the Best Related Work category in this year’s Hugo Awards that honors sci-fi and fantasy works.
The awards will be held on August 28, 2021.
“It’s important to me because I’ve been kind of working in obscurity for the last seven years,” Vida said.
“It’s been hard for me as a writer to break in and to have my name on the ballots is like a validation. It opens a lot of career opportunities for me.”
The convention makes accessible panel discussions, workshops, games, and more to BIPOC authors. This year, it will focus on racially and ethnically marginalized writers.
The industry is really challenging, especially for people of color.
“For the US publishing industry, the bigger issue is race. Right now, it is a very white-dominated industry,” Vida said.
“People who are not American or not white write in a different way compared to white Americans. It is harder for us to break into the industry because we don’t necessarily follow what is considered marketable by publishers.”
Vida is the fifth Filipino to be nominated for the Hugo Awards, but she is the first who is based in the Philippines.
“Representation matters because it would boost morale locally,” she said. “Whenever we see one of us in the international media—whether in pageants, sports, and others—it makes us feel super proud because we feel invisible on the world stage.
“Another reason why it matters is because of negative stereotypes. I think if there were more of us portrayed in a way that we prefer on our own terms, that would do a lot to completely eliminate those stereotypes.”
(EFO)
Tags: #literature, #HugoAwards, #VidadelaCruz, #FiyahLiteraryMagazine