An exciting update! Mass Freedom To Read has been working overtime to get amendments filed that substantially strengthen this bill, and all the amendments have been filed! It's time to contact your MA senators to urge them to support the amendment: www.massfreedomtoread.org/news/cta-sup...

I used to think that getting involved with legislative work would inspire me and give me a sense of community. I have a sense of community now: with authors. Because we understand that nobody else gives a shit about us. That inspiration though is hard to find. I'm mostly feeling anger these days.

While the bill allows parents, students, and guardians to challenge book removals in state court, it does not allow creators and authors to do so. In its current form, the bill leaves authors unprotected from being discriminated against due to their identity.

The MA Senate will be voting on An Act Regarding Free Expression on Thursday 11/13. This Boston Globe article touts this as a positive development, but while the protections for libraries are welcome, this version of the bill strips all protections from authors. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/08/m...

Enjoying the good news this morning! Take the wins when you get them

Also a surprise upset in St Paul, Minnesota as Kaohly Her, who came to the United States at age 4, becomes the city’s first Hmong (and first Asian) mayor. www.startribune.com/st-paul-mayo...

I'll go ahead and say it. Texas book banners got their butts kicked in tonight's school board elections. Again.

Me, with a lady knight book from 2019: I would also like to be at this party.

According to Publishers Weekly, “lady knights are having a moment,” so let me share with you my lady knight story, “One True Love,” first published in 2012 and available to read for free at Lightspeed: www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/one-...

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"

Enshrining the right to read in the state would be a start. So, too, would overturning this particular law in the state. What we need are people getting this vicious and cruel laws overturned. We do NOT need people sending copies of the book to these kids.

Thanks to The Tufts Daily for covering #MassFreedomToRead and An Act Regarding Free Expression! www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2025... @massaabb.bsky.social @authorsabb.bsky.social @danaalisonlevy.bsky.social

I realized yesterday one reason I am so angry at "AI" is because the companies behind it stole my words to make the monster they worship. I don't want my words to be part of this, but they gave me no choice. May the monster they created eat them and destroy them. 🧙🏻‍♀️

This news is so intriguing! The prize will be focused on books published for children ages 8-12. It will be judged initially by 3 adults who come up with a shortlist, then 3 children will join the judging. Huge financial award to author, plus 30K copies of the honored books will be given to kids.

This article (top link) is excellent. 👏👏👏

I realized yesterday one reason I am so angry at "AI" is because the companies behind it stole my words to make the monster they worship. I don't want my words to be part of this, but they gave me no choice. May the monster they created eat them and destroy them. 🧙🏻‍♀️

Yet again, we can't afford to let LLMs become a source of epistemic grounding for society.

If you're at the Boston Book Festival this weekend, make sure to visit us at the Beacon Press Booth 55

A thoughtful essay on Last Night at the Telegraph Club and censorship today. "Telegraph Club’s depiction of the anxiety connected to the threat of arrest, deportation, and erasure is a shockingly, depressingly relevant overarching story in the midst of which Lily is trying to find her own truth"

PSA to all authors affected by the Anthropic settlement: You don't have to file your claim right now. You have until March 2026 to do so. My agent advised that I should wait a little while and let things shake out. You *can* file now but it won't hurt to wait a bit and it might benefit you.

If you need a shot of righteous adrenaline on a Monday, I highly recommend @malindalo.bsky.social's acceptance speech from the Eleanor Roosevelt Banned Book Awards. The whole ceremony is now online, but here's Malinda's speech: www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5aD...

Many excellent inflatables in the responses to this post!

I’m loving the pics of inflatables at the #nokings marches

For authors, email offers a way to connect with readers and professional opportunities. For some, it also becomes a pipeline for harassment. Katherine Locke, a children’s and YA author, has experienced that firsthand. (1/3)

Still interested in answers to this question!

Banned Books Week may be over but the fight for the freedom to read and the first amendment continues. I talked with author/artist Mike Curato (FLAMER) about his experiences as an often-banned creator in Massachusetts and beyond. #massfreedomtoread @massaabb.bsky.social @authorsabb.bsky.social

One weird thing about book bans is that the authors of banned books have been ignored or sidelined in a lot of the discourse and in the anti-censorship activism. So I’m not exactly “glad” to see this article, but I appreciate it a lot. electricliterature.com/book-bans-co...

I’m often asked whether my books (particularly Last Night at the Telegraph Club) are autobiographical. (I was not alive in the 1950s.) Why is this question so prevalent? Why do readers often believe fiction is autobiographical, or inspired by real life? I’m really curious: If you feel this way, why?

Library folks -->

I think narrative structure is created through Pace, Lens , Order, and Tension. The various recipes for plots out there have all of these. I don't think there's anything wrong with using a recipe. I also think that saying they ARE structure means that we are always using someone else's recipe.

My hot take is that none of these are structure. These are all recipes that describe structure. Structure is the Salt, Fat, Acid Heat of writing. 3-Act/Hero's Journey etc are recipes. You can make great meals without using a recipe if you understand the principles of structure.

Last week was Banned Books Week and it was A Lot but it was also better than previous years’ iterations. I felt a change in the way people were talking about this issue. Fewer “buy banned books” and more “contact your legislators.” Getting local gov’t involved is key to preventing future book bans!

Are you an author or illustrator living in Massachusetts & want to help pass right to read legislation here? Join Authors Against Book Bans and then connect with the Massachusetts chapter. You'll have access to a discord with tons of resources & get newsletters with action items, info, & more.

We had Angela Davis speak at my university a couple of years back. One of the many insightful things she said - protest in the way that aligns with your passion. If that’s poetry do poetry or music etc. Because then you will be able to sustain it. If naked bike rides are your passion, 100% do that.

Hey, Massachusetts! Help tell our legislators they should pass An Act Regarding Free Expression to protect libraries, schools, and authors from book bans by sending them a postcard! Instructions on how to do this and where to get postcards here: www.massfreedomtoread.org/act @massaabb.bsky.social

Can you believe I’m still going to be talking about banned books in March 2026?! Yes, because the problem isn’t going to go away at the end of Banned Books Week. This will be an amazing event!

Last week, PEN America released its fourth annual report on the state of book banning and censorship in America, and I learned that Last Night at the Telegraph Club was the fourth most banned book in schools during the 2024-25 school year. How do I feel about it? www.malindalo.com/blog/2025/10...

I was interviewed recently for a #BannedBooksWeek event I'm helping out with in my capacity as co-leader for @massaabb.bsky.social by @worcestermagazine.bsky.social Here's the link to the article I'm quoted in: www.worcestermag.com/story/entert...

"Last Night at the Telegraph Club" by @malindalo.bsky.social is one of the 21 books banned from all South Carolina public schools. She responds: "That is what reading gives us: the freedom to imagine different possibilities." Read more here: scdailygazette.com/2025/05/08/w...

Just take a moment to really absorb these words from the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, in the United States of America: “As the deployment of troops and federal agents in Memphis intensifies…”

So, it may soon be entirely possible for "therapists" to practice an ineffective and homophobic therapy on minors under the protection of the 1st Amendment. Meanwhile, teachers will have no such free speech in their classrooms, and kids will have no access to books about queer people in libraries.

"It's not a badge of honor... What does it mean? It means that the fascists are winning — for now." - @malindalo.bsky.social

Last week, PEN America released its fourth annual report on the state of book banning and censorship in America, and I learned that Last Night at the Telegraph Club was the fourth most banned book in schools during the 2024-25 school year. How do I feel about it? www.malindalo.com/blog/2025/10...

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

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!!

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

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...

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...

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