Banned Books - Blog Posts
Oklahoma is attempting to pass a bill that would ban explicit romance novels. Authors, narrators, and sellers could all face fines of up to $100,000 and up to 10 years in jail for each instance.
If you live in OK, call your representative and tell them this bill should not be allowed to pass.
This is likely a test case. Republicans will try to pass it in OK and if it passes other states will likely try to pass similar laws.
In the meantime, get physical copies of books you like. Download those pdfs. Archive your AO3 stories and keep them on a physical hard drive. (Storing those files in the cloud could be problematic in the future as the company managing the cloud service can see what your files are)
God bless you! Free the books!
The sign of high quality is the fact the book was banned by the government. Trash literature NEVER EVER had any troubles with the law.
Due to the situation in America, I've decided to make a discord server with PDFs of the banned books.
Nosferatu's library is divided into categories based on authors, with each book having its own channel and each author having a discussion forum for you to talk about the books and the authors.
There is also a general chat, a channel where I update all the books I intend to add, and a channel to recommend more books to add.
Fuck Trump. Stay strong. Don't let the fascists win.
Oklahoma is attempting to pass a bill that would ban explicit romance novels. Authors, narrators, and sellers could all face fines of up to $100,000 and up to 10 years in jail for each instance.
If you live in OK, call your representative and tell them this bill should not be allowed to pass.
This is likely a test case. Republicans will try to pass it in OK and if it passes other states will likely try to pass similar laws.
In the meantime, get physical copies of books you like. Download those pdfs. Archive your AO3 stories and keep them on a physical hard drive. (Storing those files in the cloud could be problematic in the future as the company managing the cloud service can see what your files are)
Oklahoma is attempting to pass a bill that would ban explicit romance novels. Authors, narrators, and sellers could all face fines of up to $100,000 and up to 10 years in jail for each instance.
If you live in OK, call your representative and tell them this bill should not be allowed to pass.
This is likely a test case. Republicans will try to pass it in OK and if it passes other states will likely try to pass similar laws.
In the meantime, get physical copies of books you like. Download those pdfs. Archive your AO3 stories and keep them on a physical hard drive. (Storing those files in the cloud could be problematic in the future as the company managing the cloud service can see what your files are)
Oklahoma is attempting to pass a bill that would ban explicit romance novels. Authors, narrators, and sellers could all face fines of up to $100,000 and up to 10 years in jail for each instance.
If you live in OK, call your representative and tell them this bill should not be allowed to pass.
This is likely a test case. Republicans will try to pass it in OK and if it passes other states will likely try to pass similar laws.
In the meantime, get physical copies of books you like. Download those pdfs. Archive your AO3 stories and keep them on a physical hard drive. (Storing those files in the cloud could be problematic in the future as the company managing the cloud service can see what your files are)
Oklahoma is attempting to pass a bill that would ban explicit romance novels. Authors, narrators, and sellers could all face fines of up to $100,000 and up to 10 years in jail for each instance.
If you live in OK, call your representative and tell them this bill should not be allowed to pass.
This is likely a test case. Republicans will try to pass it in OK and if it passes other states will likely try to pass similar laws.
In the meantime, get physical copies of books you like. Download those pdfs. Archive your AO3 stories and keep them on a physical hard drive. (Storing those files in the cloud could be problematic in the future as the company managing the cloud service can see what your files are)
Oklahoma is attempting to pass a bill that would ban explicit romance novels. Authors, narrators, and sellers could all face fines of up to $100,000 and up to 10 years in jail for each instance.
If you live in OK, call your representative and tell them this bill should not be allowed to pass.
This is likely a test case. Republicans will try to pass it in OK and if it passes other states will likely try to pass similar laws.
In the meantime, get physical copies of books you like. Download those pdfs. Archive your AO3 stories and keep them on a physical hard drive. (Storing those files in the cloud could be problematic in the future as the company managing the cloud service can see what your files are)
Oklahoma is attempting to pass a bill that would ban explicit romance novels. Authors, narrators, and sellers could all face fines of up to $100,000 and up to 10 years in jail for each instance.
If you live in OK, call your representative and tell them this bill should not be allowed to pass.
This is likely a test case. Republicans will try to pass it in OK and if it passes other states will likely try to pass similar laws.
In the meantime, get physical copies of books you like. Download those pdfs. Archive your AO3 stories and keep them on a physical hard drive. (Storing those files in the cloud could be problematic in the future as the company managing the cloud service can see what your files are)
Seattle Public Library is doing this awesome program called Books Unbanned that allows teens and young adults (ages 13-26) access to their collection of e-books and e-audiobooks from anywhere in the USA. All you need to do is fill out a simple form and you get their Books Unbanned card. Please share this information far and wide. I know they're not the only ones to have done this, but the more the merrier!
Taking this from my twitter to post here
Online-Veranstaltung zu Banned Books am Welttag des Buches
Gemeinsam mit der Kommission für Queere Hochschulpolitik der bukof (Bundeskonferenz der Frauen- und Gleichstellungsbeauftragten an Hochschulen) organisieren die Queerbrarians (eine Netzwerk queerer Librarians) ein queeres Online-Event zum World Book Day.
Nach einem einführenden Vortrag auf Deutsch von mir sprechen Eve & Lucie auf Englisch. Sie kämpfen gegen die Book Bans in ihrem County in Tennessee.
Das Event ist kostenfrei und braucht keine Anmeldung. Alle Interessierten sind herzlich willkommen.
Titel: Celebrating the Freedom to Read
Datum: 23. April 2025
Uhrzeit: 16:30 bis 18:00 Uhr
Flyer & Infos
Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World
This book has so many great quotes that made me think, reflect, scream and cry. Here are some of them in the order I read them, rather than in an organised way alongside my thoughts.
Sáenz, B. A. (2021). Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World. Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.
They want us to read, but they do not want us to write.
This applies to so many different areas and aspects that it is almost universal. It is even more relevant in the current political climate in far too many countries. It's frightening and it all starts with banning books, restricting access to information and preventing people from gaining knowledge.
I don’t want you to live in the prison of my thoughts. I’m the only one who should be living there.
Ouch. That one hurt.
Happiness. What the hell did that mean? It had to be more than the absence of sadness.
I'd argue that happiness can't exist without sadness being around as well.
A lot of things happened outside the world of words.
Communicating without words is as much an art as communicating with words.
But here we are, we’re in it, this world that does not want us, a world that will never love us, a world that would choose to destroy us rather than make a space for us even though there is more than enough room.
Some people want queer people to disappear, but we're born this way, so there will always be queer people because people are born every day. You cannot make us disappear.
I wonder if people like me ever get to know what peace is like.
Not long ago I was full of hope that we could. I'm not as hopeful anymore.
[...] we will always live between exile and belonging.
Rarely have I read a better depiction of the range of emotions described by many members of the LGBTQIA+ community. The sense of exclusion versus the sense of belonging to a community. And the state of floating between the two.
Sometimes we have to be able to speak for those who can’t. That takes a lot of courage.
I always felt that it was much easier for me to stand up and speak for others than for myself. But it takes courage to do both.
We were both learning words and their meanings, and we were learning that the word 'friendship' wasn’t completely separate from the word 'love.'
Of course it isn't. Platonic love is just as strong and important and meaningful as romantic love.
It’s a beautiful thing to let the people you love see your pain.
It's just so damn hard.
How can we make them change if we’re not allowed to talk?
It's not just about banning books, restricting access to information and preventing people from gaining knowledge. It's also about banning people from expressing themselves, preventing them from telling their stories, and preventing people from passing on empathy and knowledge, because love and empathy are contageous.
Maybe we think that the value of our own freedom is worth less if everybody else has it. And we’re afraid. We’re afraid that, if someone wants what we have, they’re taking something away that belongs to us — and only to us.
Some people certainly think so.
But not everything we need to learn can be found in a book. Or rather, I’ve learned that people are books too.
Have you ever heard of living libraries? This is an amazing description of the idea behind them.
We were in this world, and we were going to fight to stay in it. Because it was ours. And one day the word “exile” would be no more.
Hope.
Hate is an emotional pandemic we have never found a cure for.
Hopelessness.
This book is banned!? I’m so glad I got a copy a year or so back!! Would recommend
"As soon as I discovered that comics were made by people, I wanted to be one of those people, even if I didn't have anywhere near their skill set. And I still don't think I have that skill set. But the language of comics is exciting to me... Comics are a very democratic medium, and you don't need much more than a pencil and paper, as a minimum." —Art Spiegelman speaking to Hyperallergic Discover the Pulitzer Prize–winning classic that is as as relevant and impactful today as it was forty years ago.
FINALLY PEOPLE ARE REALIZING HOW COOL LIBRARIES AND THEIR LIBRARIANS ARE!!!!
Books, Books, Book
All-in-all, reading has a lot of benefits and by limiting the diversity of books, you are taking away some of these benefits and taking them entirely from someone who might have started reading if they had just read *that book*. Earlier today the Washington Post listed other reasons to not fall into the paranoia of banning or challenging books from the superficial: a lot of classic books were at one time banned; many books are based on issues with unique diversity and representation that are unique in a society becoming more accepting (in most places), and when you find a book has been banned or challenged, that may start a conversation.
A Circle of Chaos
So, who puts in the effort to try and ban or challenge a book? I would think, and could agree to a certain extent, that parents are those who attempted to restrict their children’s access to books (thou I don’t know why they just don’t do it as parents instead of loophole out of their authority and try to use someone else’s) at their child’s school depending on their age (where some of their authority has temporarily been given over to the teacher or administration). However, while parents make up the second largest percent of challenges against books (32%) only 37% of all challenges occur at schools or school libraries with the majority happening at public libraries (59%) by other local library users (33%).
Books are also not the only things get challenged and for some, removal of the book includes vandalism, theft and destruction (burning books). In 2018 62% of all challenges or censorship actions in libraries were against books, but 15% of challenges were against meetings, 10% were against databases, films and games and 6% were about artwork. This scope of the challenges is the reason for the focus of censorship during banned books week as these challenges extend past the idea usually presented that books are banned because the material is “too mature” for the age group it was recommended too but has to do more with the prejudice behind those promoting the bans and can create an horrific self-fulfilling prophecy as those who were limited in the experiences and connections to these book will remain close-minded and become the passionate censorship leaders of our future.
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/statistics
Lessons to Learn (from Banned Books)
There are a few stories listed as classics, children’s books and young adult novels that are on the banned lists. Noting a few of my favorites on the classics list (1) and my #1, these are books that produce a unique view and with proper discussion can really influence and mold the individual.
Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling is the obvious choice, not only did it play a large part in molding me but it was also a great comfort that others who were tormented or bullied were not alone in those feelings
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding was a funny and realistic story. If you don’t like the story, then really you don’t like humanity—there was even a US television series that had the same outcome, except this had boys and girls. (2) While it showed how people break down in survival settings and need guidance in someway, it also showed how some naturally lead in a positive way or negative way, the effects of propaganda and how others are natural protectors. The focus of the title and the non-titular character is all a warning about how we can all lose ourselves
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, similar to Lord of the Flies, people seem upset to know that they might not be perfect. One of my first experiences with now the common “near-future destroyed society” similar to The Outsiders you are introduced to a group of kids who start off as, not the best (these guys are worse than The Outsiders). Similar to The Lord of the Flies, instead of trying for a common good, cracks develop within a group of kids being the worst they can be. With two versions, there are two possible long-term endings to the story that nod to the readers belief about life’s outcomes are based on chance or choice
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is one of the most infamous, if not the most infamous, story about how depraved people can be. To the point and getting inside the mind of the criminals, unlike other stories such as A Clockwork Orange or Lord of the Flies where we may suspend our understanding or relationship to the criminals as they are fictitious, here they were real.
The reading of these stories when we are younger is not always best (Lolita) but discussion and true examination while you read can open your mind not just to different life experiences or difficulties you share with others but also common human struggles that have different levels and the different ends they may come to.
(1) http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classics
(2) https://www.flavorwire.com/474701/kid-nation-looking-back-on-tvs-most-disturbing-reality-show
Challenges to the Future
As stated, books are great at taking the reader in and allowing them to experience something new. In the late 2000s and continued today, multiple researchers find that while the Harry Potter series focused prejudice specific to the wizarding world (blood status, class, speciesism), children who had read the series had translated the messages of equality into their own lives and lessened their prejudices of class, race, immigrants and others.
With an easy skim, two of my favorite children’s books/series are on this list: Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling (of course), and The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. While this large list of 130 of the most frequently challenged books overall (2) does not give the reasons why by looking at the titles you can see these of Cuban-stories (anti-communism, immigration), children growing up (books that mention changing bodies, sex-questions), “attacks” on religion (books with a non-Christian focus: witchcraft mostly), and challenged due to LGBTQIA+ content are again about trying to keep children “pure” and to block them from learning about the world around them. The list focused on YA novels, noted as those written for a YA audience, with a YA main character or frequently on high school reading list (3) has a similar content of banned books but with the addition of some books that to some may just be traumatizing such as The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney and Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl.
We know these stories, fiction or non-fiction, can improve young people’s mental health by knowing they are not alone with their feelings or questions, and that introducing someone to a different culture and mindset will increase communication, open-mindedness and reduce violence. I can understand not wanting to children exposed to things too early, but for most and as with my parents, what was seen as too old for me was not accurate and more of a personal desire. We must also remember that children are stronger than we think and children who grow without a diverse experiences will lose out not only because they will have less in life to enjoy but that as they interact with those who are different they have shown to be afraid and become violent.
(1) https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-everyone-should-read-harry-potter/
(2) http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/childrensbooks
(3) http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/YAbooks
Oooooo THE HORROR
This week is apparently Banned Books Weeks and this year, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (pretty much the point of books in MY opinion) released the top 11 books so far calculated as the most banned in 2018. (1) (2)
George by Alex Gino*
A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss, illustrated by EG Keller*
Captain Underpants series, written and illustrated by Dan Pilkey*
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Drama, written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier*
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
Skippyjon Jones series, written and illustrated by Judy Schachner
The Absolutely True diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman, illustrated by Kristyna Litten*
Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan*
It’s important to note that six of the eleven books (asterisked above) were challenged or banned because of LGBTQIA+ content. As books are meant to open your mind and bring you connection, the hateful reasons behind banning books remind us why PRIDE and representation are so important. This is especially true when looking at the statistics from the Trevor Project, that have found that LGB youth contemplate suicide 3x the rate of heterosexual youth and are 5x as likely to attempt. (3)
Going more off the serious side I cannot understand how a same-sex couple was the only reason listed as people’s issue with Captain Underpants. Seriously? I always thought they were stupid so I stopped trying to read them after a few but with everything else I remember finding (now the word I would use) distasteful, it was not any non-heterosexual relationships. What complete horsecrap.
(1) https://bannedbooksweek.org/11-challenged-and-banned-books/
(2) https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/22/us/banned-books-week-2019-trnd/index.html
(3) https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/preventing-suicide/facts-about-suicide/
Here is a list of books that Project 2025 is looking to ban and the reasons for each.
These are the books they are afraid of. These are the books we need to be reading.
read the full article here
help fight book censorship
“Play the man, Master Ridley…”
“It Was A Pleasure to Burn” by Sunny (me!)
A defiled and half-burned corpse, featuring poems made from the scraps of words on both the front and back. I could feel the book die as i burned it and it was a truly devastating but necessary experience for the piece. I actually made this piece in 2023, and it scares me how it’s becoming more and more relevant. Protect your books at all costs. Defend them with everything you’ve got. You won’t know just how valuable they are until you have been stripped of them.
Water color, colored pencil and flame on Ray Bradbury’s “Farenheit 451” 60th anniversary edition
The sign of high quality is the fact the book was banned by the government. Trash literature NEVER EVER had any troubles with the law.
Texas lawmaker Matt Krause targets 850 books he says could make students uneasy : NPR
We have a little Hitler running free in Texas.