No Return to Censorship

Is it just me, or is there a lot going on with censorship right now?

There's Young Adult author Ellen Hopkins' reverse invitation to a Texas Book festival (they invited her, then withdrew the invitation).  Then there was that mess regarding Glen Beck's 9.12 Project getting books pulled from school--and even public--libraries without any formal book challenge.  I wrote a report on this backlash against (primarily) LGBT lit, and it's featured on the Red Room home page all this week.  You can read it here.  And it's almost Banned Books Week (September 25th through October 2nd, 2010).

But there is a bright spot in all of this.  Some interesting and important groups and projects have emerged.  Well, emerged to me.  They've probably been around for quite awhile.  But I'm now lucky enough to have discovered them.

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Guest Post for LGBT Lit Days

I was fortunate enough to be asked to provide a guest post for LGBT Lit Days (August 9-20) on The Story Siren, an excellent book review blog.  I'm sure my upcoming transgender novel Jumpstart the World is a big part of why I was asked, but my novel Becoming Chloe also falls into the LGBT category.  In fact, my novel Pay It Forward also included the character of a gay/transgender young man, but most people don't know that, because he didn't make it into the film.

If you don't know the importance of LGBT literature to gay and transgender individuals, especially as they come of age, I hope you'll take a minute to read what I wrote.  

Just click on:  My Guest Post.  Thanks.

$@%*!!! (Reprint)

I have gotten quite a bit of blowback about the language in that book (always from adults, never from youth). Almost none of it has been said to my face. For example, at one of these town in IN, I was told that the school had received phone calls from parents troubled about a handful of words. But when I speak, and open for questions, it's very rare for anyone to bring it up directly. I wish they would. I have opinions on the subject, and I'd like to have an open discussion.

I guess that's what blogs are for.

So here are my opinions:

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Adult v YA (reprint)

(This is one in a series of blogs on frequently asked question that I posted on MySpace when I began that blog.  I’m guessing most of my visitors to this site have not seen them.)

I want to talk about the labels (figurative labels, not price stickers and such) that we put on books.  Particularly the ones that relate to reading levels.  As in, This one is for a teenager.  This one is for an adult.

Like there’s such a huge difference.

Here’s my opinion in a nutshell:  I think it’s all meaningless.

A few examples. 

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