James LaRue - myliblog

 On October 6, 2023, I had the pleasure of doing a book signing (for On Censorship: A Public Librarian Examines Cancel Culture in the US ) at the Bookworm bookstore in Edwards, CO. Owned and operated by Ali Teague, the Bookworm is a find, spacious, inviting, and well-stocked. I gave a short reading, a longer talk, and enjoyed the lively Q and A. Thanks to Ali, the good folks and Fulcrum Publishing, and all attendees!

Every year, apologists for the restriction of reading stumble over themselves to "mock" Banned Books Week. Walther (Oct 1, 2023's " The Enemies of Literature ") upholds the grand tradition. Complaints about banning, the argument goes, are simply false. Walther writes, "In zero cases since the advent of Banned Books Week has a local or state ordinance been passed in this country that forbids the sale or general possession of any of the books in question." Yet Texas HB 900 was passed on June 13 of this year. It requires book vendors to assign ratings to books based only on the presence of depictions or references to sex. If a book is "sexually explicit" and has no direct connection to required curriculum, it must be pulled from the school. (One wonders what happens to the Bible, and its story of Lot's daughters, first offered by their father for gang rape, and whom he later sleeps with.) In Arkansas, legislation stated that school and pu...

I am thrilled to report that my book, On Censorship: A Public Librarian Examines Cancel Culture in the US is now available. Many thanks to the extraordinary folks of Fulcrum Publishing. At every step of the process, they have been insightful, constructive, and a pleasure to work with. I would like to call out, in particular, Sam Scinta, Alison Auch, and Kateri Kramer. Sam reached out to me at the beginning, Alison greatly improved my drafts, and Kateri has been invaluable in booking various speaking gigs since then. Maybe every author is like this, but now that it's out, all I can see are the things I got wrong. When you write something, you know what you meant, and totally overlook those spots where you mumbled or misstyped. Fulcrum editors caught most of the goofs, but I managed to slip a few past them. As many authors have noted before me, all the mistakes are mine. I'm also chagrined that some of my edits apparently remained in my drafts, and never got forwarded to Fulcrum...