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.
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. In particular, I meant to include the very kind blurb/endorsement of my Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) colleague Kristin Pekoll (now at the Illinois Library Association) in the beginning of my manuscript, and her book, Beyond Banned Books: Defending Intellectual Freedom throughout Your Library in the bibliography at the end. Kristin knows a lot about challenges, and is herself a fount of insight. Thank you, Kristin, and my apologies for sloppy submissions on my part.
A shout out, too, to my successor as Executive Director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), Deborah Caldwell-Stone. Deborah is one of the finest minds I've ever encountered, and is absolutely in the thick of things during the current challenge Surge. But her responses, informed by her keen intelligence, consistently exemplify the very best thinking of both the legal and the library professions. I appreciate her integrity and her clarity.
As I'll no doubt describe in subsequent posts, book signings are fun. My thanks to Izzy at White River Books, who sponsored my first official, post-publication signing in Carbondale, CO on September 21, 2023. As I have often said, censorship succeeds when no one talks about it. Booksellers (and librarians) keep talking about it.
My next signing will be on October 6, from 6-7 pm, at Bookworm of Edwards (CO).
Comments
I met you at the Paonia Bookstore and I purchased your book. Yesterday, I started it and today, I finished it. It was terrific! The way you explored censorship and beyond was very enlightening to me. Given this crazy time we live in, I can see how important it is to confront censorship. The steps you present and the questions you ask when facing a censorship issue are concise and non-threatening. Using your method as a blueprint for engaging with anyone where disagreements might occur is a way to come to an understanding. I believe I learned so much from this book.
Thank You for writing this very informative book about this extremely important topic. Best, Erin Jameson