Malinda Lo

Top image: The logo for Mass Freedom To Read, in red, white, and blue, featuring a colonial-era patriot holding a flag and reading a book. Bottom image: A red book with yellow tape across it and the words "Banned Books Week"

It's Banned Books Week! It's time for the MA legislature to pass a Freedom to Read bill that protects librarians & educators from harassment, and protects authors, creators, booksellers & publishers from economic harm. I support An Act Regarding Free Expression (H.3594/S.2328). #MassFreedomToRead

Duckduckgo. It allows you to switch off AI. It's pretty good but sometimes I do have to use google, knowing that it's going to spew out the AI crap

The only thing you can do is stop using google. I have resorted to this

I've noticed more and more lately that people do not have events listed online anywhere. Like, how do you expect people to go to them if they can't find the info except buried on some social media account that doesn't show you things in order? Update your websites!!

Newsletter — Malinda Lo

I've basically given into tech and now post photos with everything, add music to still pictures, and am constantly thinking about how I could shoot video. However, I'm still loyal to my newsletter first! Subscribe here if you want to get my newsletter on Tuesday: www.malindalo.com/newsletter

Opinion | Ta-Nehisi Coates on Bridging Gaps vs. Drawing Lines

THIS: "my role as a writer is to state things as clearly as I possibly can, to make them in such a way that they haunt, to state truths and to reinforce the animating notion of my politics—which is that all humanity is equal and is worthy of that."
—Ta-Nehisi Coates www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/o...

Banned Books List 2025 What books are banned in 2025? Thousands of titles have been removed from public schools across the country.

What was the most #bannedbook in U.S. schools in the 2024-25 school year?

Topping the list, after being banned in 23 school districts, is a 1962 novel that Time magazine named one of 100 best books of all time in 2010.

These are the 15 most-banned books in America: pen.org/banned-books...

Books Challenged in MA 2022-24 Books Challenged or Censored in Massachusetts 2022-24 These 46 titles were challenged or removed from shelves in Massachusetts between 2022 and 2024. This list is compiled from data collected by…

Listen, obviously, Massachusetts is pretty awesome, but that doesn't mean we're completely immune to all of the broader cultural forces. 46 titles have been challenged or removed from shelves in Mass from 2022-24. That's exactly 46 too many. Here's a list of all too familiar titles

You would not believe how many hot takes I am not posting today please clap

Another Judge Chips Away at Library Patron First Amendment Rights A District Court judge rules that neither library patrons nor authors have First Amendment rights when it comes to library collections.

Another Judge Chips Away at Library Patron First Amendment Rights: bookriot.com/parnell-vs-e...

"While we rightfully focus on the impacts of censorship across our communities, including to students, teachers, readers, booksellers, librarians, languages, cultures and more—there is only one thing needed for storytelling, and that's a storyteller," she said. "At its heart, storytelling is truth, it is authenticity, and there is no greater threat to fascism."

I’m very happy to see this story about the launch of @pubprosabb.bsky.social in PW especially this quote:

www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

All I can say is, lawyers and judges don’t often communicate clearly, but as far as I can tell and despite the way the judge seems to be trying to render judgement without rendering judgement, this is still a really bad decision for people who support the First Amendment.

And the attorneys for the plaintiffs respond in the article: “Lauren Zimmerman, a partner at Selendy Gay, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, said the ruling ‘stands for the idea that the First Amendment does not apply to government censorship in a library. We think that’s wrong.’”

Florida Court Rejects Free Speech Argument in Book Removal Case

More on that Florida book banning case — in the NYT it quotes the judge as saying, “The good news is I need not decide the difficult government-speech issue to resolve the case. Either way, the First Amendment offers Plaintiffs no protection.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/b...

The start of the below thread was deleted because we made an error.

The judge sided with the District that they could viewpoint censor as they saw fit, but did not make an official ruling in support of their argument that they could do it because our libraries are “government speech.”

The student was asking so that she could go and tell her fellow students why they should care! She was doing a good thing.

If you care enough to cancel your Disney+/Hulu subscription because of Jimmy Kimmel's temporary suspension, you should care about the voices of authors and artists being silenced by state and local governments across the US. It's the same, except we authors have far less power than Kimmel.

Last night a college student asked me why college students should care about book bans and I told her that book bans are a First Amendment issue: on the same continuum as grad student Rumeyza Ozturk being detained for writing an op-ed in the student paper, and of Jimmy Kimmel being suspended.

This is a very bad ruling for all of us who value the First Amendment.

Promotional image featuring author Malinda Lo with the text 'Book bans take a giant club to books and ignore the fact that experts can help different-aged children process different subjects effectively.' The PEN America logo also appears.

Says author @malindalo.bsky.social: "Book banners want you to think that innocent eight-year-olds are being assaulted by sexually explicit material — which is just false..." Read more: pen.org/press-releas...

PEN America has a new report out on banned books, and LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB was the fourth most banned book in the 2024-25 school year. This actually surprised me, but I think it's partly because all the usual suspects have already been banned. When books get banned, they don't return.

Texas School Administrators Use A.I. To Ban Books Like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Leander Independent School District's administrators tell educators to "pause" use of 40 books, including numerous classroom classics.

Last night at our #MassFreedomToRead event, we were asked how school districts find books to ban. The answers to this have evolved over the years, but in 2025, ”AI” is increasingly involved. Read this story from @heykellyjensen.bsky.social about what’s happening in TX: bookriot.com/leander-sb-13/

It’s hard to find a pullquote that conveys both the ludicrous position this university has taken, and the seriousness of this present moment in America. >> Scholars are now being directly asked to lie to the public. <<

Be the Change Workshop: Act to Support the Freedom to Read Join members of the Mass Freedom to Read Coalition, including Authors Against Book Bans and Beacon Press to learn about this new legislation, and take action during the workshop by writing postcards to legislators to encourage them to pass this law.

Tonight! Join us @portersqbooks.bsky.social in Cambridge at 7PM for a presentation & workshop in support of Mass's An Act Regarding Free Expression. RSVPs (which are very helpful) and more info here:

Happy paperback birthday to AT MIDNIGHT! I have a short story in here about a girl being turned into a log by a witch — I swear it’s surprisingly sexy! Please enjoy 🧙‍♀️

Good thread here on the implications and ramifications of the Anthropic settlement.

Be the Change Workshop: Act to Support the Freedom to Read

I will be there with @danaalisonlevy.bsky.social @ellyswartzbooks.bsky.social @beaconpress.bsky.social @massaabb.bsky.social to tell you about An Act Regarding Free Expression, currently under consideration in the MA legislature, and tools to contact your reps portersquarebooks.com/event/2025-0...

Boston area folks who care about the freedom to read: Tomorrow, Tuesday 9/30 at 7 pm, come to @portersqbooks.bsky.social Cambridge for a workshop on how YOU can support legislation to protect libraries, schools, and authors in Massachusetts portersquarebooks.com/event/2025-0... #bannedbooks

They put the stronger ones first

Be the Change Workshop: Act to Support the Freedom to Read

Just a reminder that the September Be the Change is actually on Tuesday 9/30 instead of tomorrow. @malindalo.bsky.social @beaconpress.bsky.social @authorsabb.bsky.social & others present on censorship & pending legislation in Mass! 7PM. portersquarebooks.com/event/2025-0...