Most top X lists are biased and lack diversity.

Here’s a fine example: top animated films. Look at lists based in the US or at least in the West. They tend to favour Disney. Disney has built an empire based on other people’s creativity. Their early works were adapted from fairy tales that were in the public domain. If you look at what Walt Disney actually invented, it’s Mickey Mouse and gang (Donald Duck, Pluto, Minnie Mouse, et al), and some filming techniques. Like, famously, the one where you take several layers of drawing and expand them to simulate depth. You see it a lot in the older Disney films (like before we were born). If you look at Disney’s Golden Age (Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Lion King), Disney wrote none of that. What they wrote in that period was A Goofy Movie. And I’m not knocking A Goofy Movie, but it’s never included in the “Golden Age” lists.

These days, while Disney does push more obscure fairy tales and some more original stuff, most of their money is made on Star Wars and Marvel.

Meanwhile, Japan has led the world of animation since at least the 1980s and they almost never get recognition. Akira, Spirited Away maybe. But there’s much better stuff coming out of Japan and it doesn’t get its due because it’s not Western. Even if it gets fully translated to English — I mean songs and everything — consider 君の名は。(your name.) and its Japanese trailer and its English trailer. Sure, the spoken audio differs, but wait until the lyrics hit. They’re in Japanese in the Japanese trailer… and in English in the English trailer. Now granted, this level of translation is incredibly rare (and this may be the only film that’s done it), but that level of capitulation to the English speaking world didn’t help it get recognised outside of “Anime fans” (which has been steadily growing over the years).

Generally, “Top X” lists are going to be biased to the person writing them. They’re almost never objective. I think something like the IMDb Top 250 tries to be, but then anime gets rated higher than traditional film. Is it because it’s better… or because the fans care more? You see a movie, it’s fine, you may or may not rate it unless you really loved or hated it. But anime? People tend to rate that more and rate it higher, on a higher scale. Then you have fandoms that rate-bomb other fandoms (Fullmetal Alchemist is known for this), it’s just crazy.

But OP is talking about books. And books are far more niche than movies. So it’s going to be harder. As one living in the West, I mostly read English authors. I have read No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai, a Japanese author. The book was translated, of course. I have never read a book from First Nations. I’m not saying I wouldn’t, but none have appealed to me — perhaps, more correctly, none have been marketed to me. So that is a bit of a failing on my part, perhaps. Maybe one day I will. And, I see the link is largely about aboriginal writers — those native to Australia. I would not be opposed to reading Australian (or aboriginal translated, if it originated in a native language), or Native American, or any First Nations group from any country. For me, it’s more about the story than where it came from.

I will say, now that I think about it, that American author Bentley Little — not First Nations/Native American himself — while growing up in the American Southwest, does incorporate Native American folklore into some of his stories.

Top lists are always clickbait. The author’s background doesn’t enter my equation when I’m choosing a book. If I read enough of their work, I might look them up but I don’t really care