Thank heavens for some sense on the subject of “cultural appropriation” from Nesrine Malik (Why are black authors only allowed to tell black stories?, 3 February). The idea that one can only write about something if one has actually done it, or been that person is obviously ridiculous.
Most novels and stories up until the mid-20th century were written by men – does Lauren Groff of the New York Times refuse to read any books written by men because they aren’t women? Does she “agonise” over, for example, Small Island because Andrea Levy has portrayed a white woman?
The point of literature is to be able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes – that is what really good writing does. As Malik says, maybe American Dirt is just not very well written.
Carol Taylor
Darley Dale, Derbyshire
• I have not yet had the opportunity to read American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins and therefore have no view of its literary merits, but I understand there is criticism because she is not an exact reflection of the main character. I thought this was a novel, not a memoir. The fiction shelves would be greatly depleted if authors can write only about their own life experience.
Robert Harris has written his latest book from the perspective of a young priest in another era – should he not have done so because he is secular, middle-aged and lives in 2020? His book, being a novel, is mixture of imagination and research.
Maybe we should ban Black Beauty because (as far we know) Anna Sewell had no actual experience of being a horse. There can be many books written around one subject; Cummins’ book does not prevent anyone else from writing from their own perspective if that is their preference.
Angela Barton
Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire
• It was good to see Candice Carty-Williams’ thoughts on cultural appropriation (Review, 1 February) so ably refuted on the very next page by Jeet Thayil. “What a banal world it would be if writers did not use their imaginations,” he writes, in praise of Edna O’Brien’s powerful novel Girl, set in Nigeria. And not just writers; presumably Carty-Williams would wish to ensure that George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess was never staged again?
Richard Giles
Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear
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