They've been targeting libraries for some time. Don't let them succeed.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/01/new-book-bans-library-schools
#censorship #BookBan #libraries
New blog post: Basic Internet Security for Authors: Better Browsing
Never thought about what you trust your browser with every day? Maybe it's time for some tweaks to make your internet browsing more secure. #Security #InternetSecurity #Browser #Author #Autorenleben #writerslife #Writing #BookBan
https://www.viennawriter.net/blog/basic-internet-security-for-authors-better-browsing/
Would you buy these children's books:
"Why Rich People Get Richer And Poor People Poorer?"
or
"Terrorism, What Is It?"
That's what you find in French bookstores in the kid's section along other "woke" topics like women in history, science or sport, contemporary art, environmental science, self-awareness etc.
Gloria Oladipo: Most banned books feature people of color and #LGBTQ+ people, report finds: Study counteracts claims by conservative lawmakers that books being removed from classrooms are sexually explicit
#bookban #Censorship #homophobia #transphobia #racism
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/27/banned-books-people-of-color-lgbtq
Ebooks, Kindle and the Erosion of Ownership
- Plant Based Bride
https://invidious.reallyaweso.me/watch?v=oqt7Ev37IbA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqt7Ev37IbA
New post: Basic Internet Security for Authors – Strong Passwords
What are good passwords (spoiler: long ones) and how can i use them so that they don't annoy me?
https://www.viennawriter.net/blog/basic-internet-security-for-authors-strong-passwords/
New blog post: Basic Internet Security for Authors – Cloud and Backups.
Dear fellow writers around the world, this is – unfortunately – not a drill. Book bans are in place in the US. Get your manuscripts and other data out of cloud drives and make decent backups. There's a how-to in the article.
https://www.viennawriter.net/blog/basic-internet-security-for-authors-cloud-and-backups/
Book banned in the US for discussing... having freckles and being ginger. Free Speech everyone.
If you have #manuscripts in Google Docs, please consider downloading them all to your harddrives. Make lokal backups and also copy them to an external harddrive and flash drives. Write locally with #Scrivener or any other word processor that fits your workflow. „The Cloud“, especially the US cloud, is not a safe place.#bookban #books #censorship #author #writing #writingcommunity #bookstodon
What will come after book bans? Well, you won't need your professional phantasy for several scenarios.
Fellow authors around the world, maybe you should think about switching from Google Drives, MS One Drives, iCloud etc. and, especially, keep your manuscripts and other important documents safe on an external harddrive or/and a flash drive. Don't get me wrong. I also hope, we all won't need the backups. I really do. #author #books #WritingCommunity #SelfPublishing #Writing #censorship #bookban
"Her experience has also been “painful” because book banning has had a more “subtle” impact that left her questioning her own abilities. Many of her books aren’t being formally banned, but the atmosphere that banning has created has led to her and her books simply not being chosen by teachers and educators."
Banned books are worth reading!
"Censored in schools run by the Department of Defense, which affects up to 67,000 children in 160 schools in seven US states and 11 countries."
https://www.amazon.com/No-Truth-Without-Ruth-Ginsburg/dp/0062560115
Is this the America we want?
“Just weeks after the Trump Administration claimed book bans were a ‘hoax,’ the same administration is purging books from schools run by the Department of Defense, serving 67,000 children around the world,”
'"Banning a book is the resort of a government that has lost confidence in the power of its own message,” Novack said. “Not only are book bans wrong, they are counterproductive."'
...
'The lawsuit said HB 710 “puts educators and librarians in the untenable position of having to guess whether any member of the public might file an objection to a book whose message they disagree with,” especially because the distinction of a “harmful” book is subjective.
'Sherry Scheline, director of the Donnelly Public Library, said during the news conference that the law “caused a crisis in our community...
'The Donnelly Library is housed in a 1,000-square-foot log cabin that Scheline said is about one-tenth the size of the average Idaho library. Because of the policy shift, the library has moved its after-school kids’ program to outdoor tepees to comply with the law. Scheline said budget and staffing issues compound the library’s inability to allow unsupervised children.'
I have subscribed to the weekend print edition of this paper. It's $12 a month. I also subscribe to the Salt Lake Tribune e-edition.
I encourage you to find local reporting (whether local to you, or to a place of interest or effectiveness), and subscribe. It's one of the most powerful things you can do right now, is keep these independent, small town papers afloat.
Amanda Gorman is incredibly eloquent and a shining light. This is a wonderful interview. The banning of her beautiful, inclusive, loving words should be a wake up call to all thoughtful people. Fear combined with authoritarian leaders is not a good combination. Lots of ignorant and senseless damage will be the result. https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/amanda-gorman-says-a-ban-on-her-poetry-felt-like-a-gut-punch-full-interview-231480901805
Libraries should be safe havens for all voices! In Valleyview, #Alberta, a heated debate over book bans is dividing the community and impacting the 2SLGBTQ+ Individuals. It's easy to criticize the US for it's rise of human rights issues, but we must acknowledge that these challenges are also happening in #Canada. Let's stand for #inclusivity and the #freedom to read!
Check out the full story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRDL9Fm1ZLA #BookBan #2SLGBTQ+ #LibraryLove #HumanRights
