The Diverse Baseline (2026 Version)GUIDELINES
• The official challenge is hosted on Storygraph.
• Each month, read books that fit the three (3) designated prompts.
• Share your reviews anywhere you share reviews: Goodreads, Storygraph, Instagram, TikTok, Substack, Blogs, etc…
• Subscribe to the newsletter to stay updated with announcements.
• Join the Discord for book recommendations, reflections, book club, and connecting with others.
• Every book must be by a racialized author.WHAT DOES “RACIALIZED” MEAN?“The term ‘racialized’ is a sociological concept closely related to racism. People seen as belonging to racialized minorities are people who could be perceived as being socially different from, for example, the racial or ethnic majority. The word ‘racialized’ stresses the fact that race is neither biological nor objective but is a concept which is societal in origin. Categorizations other than ‘racialized’ include ‘people of colour’ or BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour).”With racialized, we mean folks who are racialized under a U.S. lens, as we are creating this challenge from a U.S. lens, with alarmingly white lists like Goodreads and NYT in mind. We are focusing on authors who descend from the global majority: Black, Indigenous, Brown, Latinx, Pacific Islander, Arab, West Asian, North African, Southeast Asian, South Asian, East Asian, African, biracial, and multiracial people, and groups who cannot access white privilege in the U.S.The term “global majority” refers to the ethnic groups that make up the majority of the world’s population, which is approximately 80%. The term “global majority” was coined by educator and activist Rosemary Campbell-Stephens. It’s intended to disrupt white supremacy culture and ideology.
PROMPTSJanuary
• About substance use disorder by a racialized author
• About sports by a racialized author
• Fiction by a Central American authorFebruary
• About immigrant narratives by a racialized author
• Fiction by a South Asian author
• Nonfiction about Indigenous to U.S. CommunitiesMarch
• About sex work by a racialized author
• Nonfiction by an East African author
• Fiction by an author from the Arab diasporaApril
• Fiction by a Mexican author
• Fiction featuring a queer, sapphic, or achillean MC, by a racialized author
• Nonfiction by an indigenous Oceania authorMay
• Nonfiction by a Central/Middle African author
• Fiction by a Southeast Asian author
• Trans joy and/or messiness by a racialized authorJune
• Fiction by a First Nations author
• About parenting, adoption or foster care by a racialized author
• Nonfiction by a North African authorJuly
• Translated from non-European language, by a racialized author
• Fiction by a West African author
• Fiction by a Caribbean authorAugust
• Fiction by a South American author
• Nonfiction by a Hawai’ian author
• Historically marginalized religious representation by a racialized authorSeptember
• About food apartheid/food deserts by a racialized author
• Nonfiction by a racialized indie author
• Fiction by an author from the Black diasporaOctober
• About climate change and/or gentrification by a racialized author
• Fiction by a Pacific Islander author
• Fiction by a biracial or multiracial authorNovember
• Fiction by East Asian author
• About intersectional feminism, abolition, colonization, or politics by a racialized author
• Nonfiction by a Southern African authorDecember
• Nonfiction from an author from the Latine diaspora
• About disability by a racialized author
• Fiction by a West Asian authorBONUS PROMPTS
• Book with less than 200 reviews on GR or StoryGraph by a racialized author
• About health care, written by a racialized author
• Book about mutual aid and/or organizing by a racialized author
• A retelling or reimagining by a racialized author
• A book with real people/models on the cover by a racialized author (NOT AI-GENERATED)
• Middle-aged or older main character, written by a racialized author
• About fat liberation and/or body neutrality
• Cyberpunk, Steampunk, Dystopian, or Dark Fiction by a racialized author
• About blue collar work, the service industry, and/or the gig economy by a racialized author
• A book centered around a holiday you don’t celebrate, by a racialized author
• About amatopunk love, by a racialized author
• About entertainment by a racialized authorMore details about each prompt, including book recommendations, can be found on the official Storygraph challenge, as well as this document