Banned Books, Brave Women & The Right to Read

Hello magical friends!

A Night of Activism & Awareness

Last night I hosted a special action-oriented meeting of the #BannedBooksBookClub for #BannedBooksWeek. We had a great turnout and spent the evening raising awareness about the insane spike in book banning, the dangers of censorship, and things we can do to keep books on shelves and accessible to all at schools and libraries.

Have you taken a look at the lists of banned books recently and the reasons why they've been banned? It's shocking!

There are so many amazing women in this book club—teachers, librarians, activists, and leaders. What a treat to be surrounded by passionate and intelligent women committed to literature, literacy, and the right to read stories about all kinds of people. 

I got to meet the lovely Lauren of @onceuponaban whose Substack "Once Upon a Ban" is absolutely worth checking out! 

Learning about banned children's books is the most heartbreaking part of all this.

The Personal Reality Check

Several people asked if my books were ripe for banning, and I sort of knee-jerk reacted that maybe my rom-coms would be because of their medium spice level. Then later I smacked my forehead when I realized my no-spice cozy fantasy series is just as likely, if not more so, because of the (completely non-explicit) LGBTQ+ content in book three.

One of my main characters comes out and has a same-sex crush, and in book banning world, this alone is enough to cancel an author.

Let that sink in. A character developing feelings for someone of the same gender—no explicit content, just feelings—is considered bannable in many communities right now.

The Most Touching Moment

One of my favorite activities for the night was writing postcards to banned authors, expressing our support for them and their stories. That one really touched my heart. These authors are facing real consequences—personal attacks, threats, loss of income—simply for writing stories that reflect the diverse world we live in. Sending them messages of solidarity and gratitude felt like the least we could do.

If you're not already involved in fighting book bans in your community, I encourage you to:

• Attend school board and library board meetings
• Support banned authors by buying and reviewing their books
• Donate challenged books to Little Free Libraries
• Speak up when you see censorship happening
• Check out Banned Books Week resources at bannedbooksweek.org