Congrats to all!!!

I stand with Authors Against Book Bans and the group’s Open Letter to Our Publishers, about the steps creatives must to see from members of the Publishing industry to protect our freedom to write and readers’ freedom to find the stories and representation they need.

In short, authors need to know that our publishers have our backs. We DO NOT need to be wondering whether publishing executives support the banning of our books or even view us as sex offenders for simply telling our stories.

Authors need concrete assurance (with consistent follow-through!) that our publishers stand in solidarity with us, even and especially if there are government-driven book bans which attempt to silence voices that must be heard.

Authors need to see our publishers taking proactive measures against book banning and even the criminalization of our stories.

In an industry that already operates on a significant power imbalance, authors need to see, from our publishers, acknowledgement of the challenges to get our books into the hands of young readers who yearn for characters like themselves to be represented on the page.

Regardless of the political beliefs of the VP in question, and whether she does in fact support such policies… Marginalized authors are experiencing an increase in book banning and school visit cancellations, as well as online and in-person harassment that reflects Project 2025 ideologies.

It is deeply alarming for authors, editorial staff, educators, and librarians to witness a publishing executive celebrate such an administration.

It calls for those who produce or distribute such books to be imprisoned (including authors and editors). Project 2025 calls for teachers and librarians who stock such books to be prosecuted and registered as sex offenders.

According to Project 2025, such books would automatically be classified as “pornographic.” Project 2025 calls for books featuring queer representation to be outlawed.

Among its policies are calls for an increase in book banning, particularly for books that feature any queer representation.

Trump’s presidency is unequivocally tied to Project 2025, a 900+ page policy playbook whose authors include members of Trump’s previous administration as well as nominees and appointments for his upcoming one.

Given the ties of Project 2025 policies to Trump’s upcoming presidency, Dawson’s response has caused significant and understandable concern among authors, particularly those among the children’s book community.

Muriel Dawson, VP of Marketing at MacKids (the children’s division of Macmillan Publishers, one of the five major traditional publishers in the United States) recently celebrated online the election of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States.

Cont’d letter…

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Oh no!! Me too 😭 Hope you feel better soon.