My Books Keep Getting Banned (An Update)
Back in October, I wrote a detailed post on how the national wave of book banning has targeted my books. For a couple of months afterward, I posted updates on instagram, but since December I haven't had the chance to do any more updates ... until now. I've been keeping a list, folks, and it's not very nice.
First, I've updated my spreadsheet of all the bans and challenges that have targeted my books. If you'd like to dive into the nitty gritty details, you can view that spreadsheet here:
Credit where credit is due: I learned about the vast majority of these bans and challenges from Kelly Jensen's Literary Activism newsletter, which you should subscribe to if you want to keep up with this. She has been doing the real hard work for years.
Second, the numbers: As of March 4, 2024, my books have been banned, challenged, or restricted in 64 cases across 18 states. Texas leads in banning my books with 13 cases; followed by Iowa with 10 cases; and Florida and Virginia, both with 8 cases.
Since October 2023, I've counted 20 more cases of bans and challenges and two more states. Note that these are only the cases I’m aware of; often news reports are paywalled, or school districts don't post lists of books that are challenged or banned. I can't know about cases that aren't public on the internet.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club is by far my most banned book. As of March 4, 2024, LNATTC has been banned, challenged, or restricted in 50 cases in 15 states. This is an increase of 16 cases and one state (Idaho) since October 2023.
If you'd like to catch up on some of the details of the book banning cases I documented in November and December, you can find them on my instagram feed; there is also a highlight with links to news articles.
Here are the details of the book banning cases I've learned about since December 2023:
You may recall that I'm a co-plaintiff in a lawsuit against the state of Iowa's book banning law, which was temporarily blocked by a federal judge at the end of December. Despite this injunction, it's not clear whether the banned books are being returned to shelves. The only real data I have comes from the Des Moines Register's database of Iowa book bans, and in that database, LNATTC is listed as banned in 9 school districts. Also, the injunction is currently being appealed by the state, so this story isn't over.
LNATTC has been officially banned from St. John's County School District in Florida.
LNATTC is among 673 books that have been banned in Orange County, Florida. Yes, 673.
In Dorchester School District 2 (South Carolina), LNATTC has been challenged along with hundreds of other titles.
In Beaufort County, South Carolina, LNATTC has been retained but "for grades 9-12 only." On the surface, retaining a YA book for a YA audience is fine, but consider that a title such as Colleen Hoover's adult novel Layla is simply designated "Return to library circulation." For some reason (gee, I wonder why), LNATTC is deemed more dangerous than an adult novel for middle and elementary school students.
LNATTC has been challenged in West Ada School District (Idaho), although it's not clear if they even have any copies of LNATTC. My search of the school library catalogs shows only one copy, which is listed as “lost.”
In the Elkhorn Area School District (Wisconsin), LNATTC was among 444 challenged titles. (Yes, 444.) Recently, the book was retained, but it has been designated "restricted use," which means it requires parental permission before it can be checked out. This stigmatizes both the book and the students who wish to check it out.
One more title that includes my work has been challenged: The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes to their Younger Selves, edited by Sarah Moon, first published in 2012. This collection, which includes a letter from me to my younger self, was challenged in Pasco County Schools in Florida. After discussion, the book committee tasked with handling this challenge decided The Letter Q should be available in high schools only. However, no high schools in this district own a copy of the book, and the committee makes it clear that their decision does not mean they're purchasing the book. So I'm not sure what the point of this challenge was, unless it was to clearly express homophobia in this community.
This kind of homophobic shaming continues to be a major element of the book banning movement. In Virginia, Botetourt County Libraries are facing challenges from a right-wing group called BRACE (Botetourt Residents Against Child Exploitation), which claims that the public library and the American Library Association are attempting to provide books to children that "distort human sexuality," "sexualize children" and "confuse them about gender." These are standard lines now on the right, even though they have no basis in reality.
So far, none of the books targeted by BRACE have been removed from the Botetourt County Library, but BRACE is not giving up. They have a website that presents cherry-picked excerpts from the books they wish to ban, including nonfiction books for children and teens about their own bodies. BRACE also includes Last Night at the Telegraph Club here, with the warning "CAUTION-explicit" before excerpting a scene from chapter 36 about the characters Lily and Kath.
This scene has been passed around by Moms for Liberty via their Book Looks website for months, and it's often presented as shocking, shameful, and sexually explicit. The degree to which this scene (or any scene) is shocking or explicit depends on countless factors including the reader's own knowledge of language, metaphor, and their personal beliefs about queerness and sexuality.
But there is nothing shameful about this scene or the novel as a whole. I've said this before, and I'll say it again as many times as needed: Being queer is not shameful, sexuality in general is not shameful, and queer sex in particular is not shameful, either. What is shameful is stigmatizing a natural expression of human connection while stoking homophobia and transphobia.
For more updates on my banned books, subscribe to my newsletter or follow me on instagram.