Fresh Ink: An Anthology

Lamar Giles, the editor of Fresh Ink, is one of the founding members of the nonprofit organization We Need Diverse Books, which dedicates its efforts to promoting diversity in young adult literature. Its central goal is to provide young readers with stories that reflect their own lives, struggles, and accomplishments, specifically for those of varying ethnicities, genders, and sexualities, communities that have historically been ignored in literature. To accomplish this, they set up grants and funding for writers, provide mentorships, and created a list of available works available for schools, parents, teachers, libraries, and others who have an interest in promoting diversity for young readers. The Fresh Ink: We Need Diverse Books Anthology exemplifies the efforts of the We Need Diverse Books organization: The organization’s members helped fund and promote the book’s publication through Penguin Random House.

The stories in the collection explore the lives of young people from a wide variety of backgrounds, including different sexual orientations, gender identities, and ethnicities, reflecting the central goal of We Need Diverse Books. For example, “Erase Tattoo,” “A Boy’s Duty,” “Tags,” and “Super Human” examine the lives of young African Americans as they struggle against forces of gentrification, unhoused status, urban violence, and police shootings.