Telegraph Club Considered for Possible Statewide Ban in South Carolina

I recently learned that my novel Last Night at the Telegraph Club, along with nine other books, has been challenged at the state level in South Carolina, and this week on March 13, 2025, the South Carolina Department of Education's Instructional Materials Review Committee will consider whether it should be banned at schools statewide.

All ten books currently being considered for statewide ban were previously challenged in Beaufort County, SC, by the same parent. The Beaufort County School District's review committee evaluated these books and decided to return almost all of them to school libraries, including LNATTC, though it was limited to high school only. That happened back in April 2023.

I just want to be clear: limiting LNATTC to high school libraries (that is, not including it in middle or elementary school libraries) is appropriate, because it is not intended for children younger than high school age, although it would not be harmful if a younger reader read it.

However, the parent who initially submitted those challenges has re-challenged the books for state-wide removal. A new law in South Carolina, Regulation 43-170, which passed in July 2024, allows for books to be banned statewide if they contain any description of "sexual conduct," regardless of the book's broader context. So far, 11 books have been banned statewide in South Carolina under this book banning law.

The parent who challenged LNATTC and other books in Beaufort County and at the state level is Elizabeth Szalai. She had a 5% success rate in Beaufort County, but she has had a 100% success rate at the state level so far.

Szalai's complaint claims that LNATTC "contains explicit sexual activities in violation of Regulation 43-170 specifically touching of breast and masterbation [sic]." The complaint includes excerpts of scenes from LNATTC stripped of their context. Indeed, the context of the entire novel is irrelevant to Regulation 43-170.

I am not optimistic that LNATTC will survive this challenge in South Carolina, but it's still possible.

Normally, I don't hear about school board meetings regarding my books until after they have happened, but because I heard about this one in advance, I've written to South Carolina's Instructional Materials Review Committee to support my book and to ask them to uphold our First Amendment rights. My letter is below:

Dear members of the Instructional Materials Review Committee of the South Carolina Department of Education:

My name is Malinda Lo, and I'm the author of several critically acclaimed and bestselling young adult novels, including Last Night at the Telegraph Club, which is currently under review by your committee. I'm writing to you not only as the author of this book, but as a concerned American citizen who believes strongly in our First Amendment.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club was the winner of the 2021 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Stonewall Book Award, the Asian Pacific American Award for Literature, the Kids' Choice Awards Teen Book of the Year, and over over two dozen more honors and awards. It is a coming-of-age novel about a Chinese American girl discovering her identity as a lesbian in 1950s San Francisco. I am a Chinese American lesbian myself, and when I was a teen growing up in the 1980s and '90s, I often felt alone and confused. I didn't have access to books like this that would have helped me to better understand who I was. That's why I write books about LGBTQ+ and Asian American characters. I'm writing the books I needed as a teen.

Since Telegraph Club was published, many LGBTQ+ and Asian American readers have contacted me to tell me how much this book meant to them. Seeing yourself in a book can be a transformative and empowering experience. One reader wrote to tell me, "Your books helped me love and accept myself." A Chinese American reader wrote, "I feel so seen. Perhaps a little bit too seen, as I am on the verge of tears." A teen from Nashville told me, "it means a lot to see people like me in literature, written by people like me."

I'm an immigrant who came to the United States with my family from China when I was a child, and we settled in Boulder, Colorado. I grew up knowing that we came here to escape the oppression of the Chinese Communist government, which does not allow freedom of expression or the freedom to read. This is why I've always valued our First Amendment rights. The possibility that my book could be banned across the entire state of South Carolina alarms me because censorship goes directly against the ideals of our country.

I urge you to trust the judgement of your local teachers and librarians, who selected my book — and many others — for their school libraries based on their professional judgement and training. While not every book is for every reader, every reader deserves the freedom to choose what they wish to read, not to have those rights taken away from them by the state. I hope you will take this opportunity to support our fundamental rights and freedoms as Americans.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Malinda Lo

The hearing is Thursday, March 13. The entire South Carolina Department of Education will vote on whether they will confirm the IMRC's decision in April. Stay tuned.

Thanks to the ACLU of South Carolina, Freedom to Read SC, and Authors Against Book Bans for their work in South Carolina in fighting book bans and helping me understand the local situation.