(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Conservatives hate Ashley Hope Pérez's novel but she's not afraid to write what we need to read [1]
['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2022-08-07
This interview has been edited for clarity, length, and flow.
MH: Can you talk to me some about the first time you heard Out of Darkness was being banned or challenged and how you felt or reacted at the time?
AHP: Midway through the pandemic, I heard from PEN America that my book was among 20 or 30 books being challenged at a central Texas school district; then it had been pulled from the reading program and there was some kind of review happening. And then in August, my book was among those that were officially prohibited from being used in the book clubs. That was the first of many removals.
I think that the first is always the hardest for writers because it's just a shock. And for me, in particular, Out of Darkness was published in 2015. So it's been in school libraries and won multiple awards.
MH: Can you chat with us about how you see book bans fitting into the broader attack on rights by conservatives?
AHP: The political nature of this right-wing groups have really latched onto book banning as a strategy. It's not about books. It’s about signaling disapproval of certain identities and creating chaos in public schools.
MH: Do you see any overlap with Republican efforts to ban books and the recent onslaught of anti-trans bills and critical race theory hysteria?
AHP: There's a very powerful group called Utah, Parents United, that's been very influential and, you know, driving this agenda. But one thing that those of us who have been watching those groups have seen is that these groups pivot very quickly from issue to issue.
Many of them formed around anti-masking efforts, then they were focused on anti-CRT, then book banning ... If you look at the patterns the books have challenged are overwhelmingly by or about queer or non-white characters, they're obviously and often have in common identities that are targeted by right-wing groups.
The parents who've been, you know, fed these narratives basically, in conservative online spaces or on TV, it is so reminiscent of anti-integration language. I don't want this book near my kid, and they're holding up a book that has a Black character on the front or has a queer character. It’s a signal. They wish to exclude those identities from their child's experience of the world. And they can't say, I don't want queer or Black kids to go to my child's school, but they can show up and say, I don't want these books in my kid's school.
MH: Why is it so valuable for young readers to have access to books by and about people different from them? Especially when they deal with difficult or delicate subjects, like sexual violence, discrimination, or abuse?
AHP: What's going on is that they’re using sexual content as a pretext for challenging books that are engaging with nondominant communities' experiences that are addressing important objects like police brutality and, in my case, racialized violence and sexual abuse.
Those are topics that are important for young people to have the chance to explore and access. And what these folks are implying is that the presence of all these difficult topics and literature is somehow an endorsement of them when in fact, it's creating space for young people to responsibly engage with realities that may not be their own lived realities but they are someone's lived reality.
It's a really simplistic kind of framework, this sort of the idea that because you don't approve of something it shouldn't be explored in literature. I write about many behaviors and choices that I do not approve of because that is how I can reveal what's wrong with them. That's why Out of Darkness is important.
It's not just important for Black and Latinx readers. White readers read it and have a different understanding of how friends of their age experience the world, and how it can be so different from the experiences of their friends of color.
MH: Has there been any pressure from folks in publishing like your agent or editor to avoid certain topics or write something differently because of concerns about book bans or censorship? Have you gotten a lot of systemic support from the industry?
AHP: I have an amazing editor who's extremely committed to exploring human experiences and where that exploration takes us. My agent, as well, is great.
But people are aware that librarians are now afraid to buy certain books. I think that for people who are more early-career writers, this is definitely something that has people kind of tiptoeing back from important issues that they might otherwise write about
MH: Are there any anecdotes or interactions with the readers that have stuck with you?
AHP: I'm so grateful. As all of this has unfolded, I've gotten so much harassment off messages that I have gotten much better about saving the positive ones because you have to counteract that. I'm so moved by the readers who take the time to share.
The through-line of the feedback I received from readers is that their hearts are broken and they also are grateful for the experience of reading the book. It's a very hard book. It is heartbreaking but there are ways in which having falling in love with characters, they want the world for them. It gives readers the chance to build a world where people like the characters in my books are safe to love and live and thrive.
And I think that one of the gifts of a book like Out of Darkness that readers bring up a lot is that it helps them understand what changes we need to keep working for because they want certain things. Readers look at it and say, I don't want this to be what my world is like. I want a world that makes room for people.
Add your name: I read banned books!
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/7/2114712/-Conservatives-hate-Ashley-Hope-P-rez-s-novel-but-she-s-not-afraid-to-write-what-we-need-to-read
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
