Meanings
- attributiveoftenA literary movement centering books (particularly children's and young-adult fiction) about marginalized people written by authors of the same group.
Own voices story about autism, dating and the joy of growing up.
2020, Australian Collective Stand: Rights Catalogue Frankfurt Book Fair 2020, page 272 more examples
“The Hate U Give” is an “Own Voices” book, which means that it's about a diverse character and is written by an author from the same diverse group.
2017 March 2, Hiba Tahir, “Swipe Right”, in The Student Printz, University of Southern Mississippi, page 5An Own Voices title set in present-day Chennai, India, modelled on the Vadapalani Market near where the author grew up.
2020, Barefoot Books Rights Guide Spring 2020, page 1
Origin
Coined by Dutch author Corinne Duyvis on Twitter in 2015 as a hashtag for recommending children's books with "diverse characters written by authors from that same diverse group."
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Own Voices. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Own%20Voices
“Own Voices.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Own%20Voices. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Own Voices,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Own%20Voices.
Source: Own Voices on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.