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Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there has been increasing hate and violence directed at Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans. In New York City, anti-Asian hate crimes rose by 1,900% in 2020. Many AAPI people have reported being coughed at or spat on, denied ride share services, and had racial slurs directed at them. There have been news reports of elderly Asian people getting attacked, and young AAPI children have faced bullying from their peers. Whether it’s overt racial attacks or “microaggressions,” facing this takes a toll: AAPI people who have reported these incidents describe ongoing effects of depression and sleeplessness, as well as a fear of returning to where the racist acts happened.
In response to this, a group of Kidlit writers and publishing professionals–organized by the Asian Author Alliance–have organized a fundraising auction to help fight anti-AAPI racism. The auction will run between February 26 at 12 AM EST to February 28 at 11:59 PM PST at the Kidlit Against Anti-AAPI Racism website. You can also find links to more information about anti-AAPI racism in the U.S. there.
The items go up at midnight tonight, but many of the donators have already been teasing the offerings on Twitter and Instagram! Judging from just these sneak peeks, there will be a big array of auction items that will appeal to readers and writers alike!
Some of the items include:
- Signed copies of a ton of titles, including:
- We are Not Free and The Reader Trilogy by Traci Chee
- Not Your Sidekick by CB Lee
- The Love & Lies of Rukshsana Ali and an ARC of Zara Hossain is Here by Sabina Khan
- The Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
- The Adventure is Now by Jess Redman
- Oona by Kelly DiPucchio
- An ARC of Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee
- All 4 Jasmine Toguchi books
- Picture books Dear Earth… From Your Friends in Room 5 and Peter Easter Frog by Erin Dealey
- The chance to name a character in an upcoming book, including Not Your Villain by CB Lee and a future Stacey Lee book
- Query critiques, craft chats, copyediting services, or first 10-50 pages critiques from authors, literary agents, and other publishing professionals like Sabina Khan, Naomi Davis, Paula Chase, Christine Ma, Cathy Yardley, Erin Sieu, Gordon Warnock, and more. These would be invaluable for new and aspiring authors!
To check out all of the auction items, check out the KAAAR Fundraiser website from February 26-28. To bid, comment on the post of the item with your USD amount. If you’ve won, you’ll be contacted by the Asian Author Alliance. Then you’ll donate to either Stop AAPI Hate Donation Page or Hate is a Virus Donation Page and email proof of your donation.
- Stop AAPI Hate is an organization that aggregates anti-Asian hate incidents on their website and supports”community-based safety measures and restorative justice efforts.” They also “advocate for local, state, and national policies that reinforce human rights and civil rights protections” and offer multilingual resources.
- Hate is a Virus fights anti-AAPI racism by raising awareness, educating AAPI communities on strategies to combat racism, and by directly providing monetary relief to small Asian-led businesses impacted by COVID-19. They are currently raising a million dollars to fund community organizations providing services to the AAPI community.
If you want to support a good cause while filling your shelves with signed books and/or honing your skills as a writer, make sure to bid on the #KAAAR auction February 26th-28th! Here’s an Instagram post that offers a preview of what to expect:
Full credit to Wendy Shang’s tweet for this post’s title!