(S4, E10) Restricted Reading ft. Ngozi Ukazu
This week on Pop Culture Boner we look at the history of book banning and the recent rise in right-wing hate groups using libraries and public schools as battle grounds for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. We also chat to Ngozi Ukazu, whose book Check, Please! is banned in Texas, about what it’s like to be an author on Moms For Liberty’s hit list.
You can find Ngozi on Twitter, Instagram and the grout of the internet. You can pre-order Bunt! here, or keep an eye out for Barda, available for pre-order soon. Or if you want to annoy a concerned parents group somewhere in rural Texas, you can also purchase Check, Please! right now. If you already own a copy, you should buy another and donate it to your local library.
Please note the interview has been edited for clarity, content and timing.
You can find a full list of references here:
Jonathan Friedman & Nadine Farid Johnson (2022, PEN America) - Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books In Schools
Erin Blakemore (2023, National Georgraphic) - The history of book bans - and their changing targets - in the U.S.
Emily Knox (2015) - Book Banning in 21st Century America
Robert Kim (2022, Phi Delta Kappan) - Under the Law: Banning books: Unlawful Censorship or within a school’s discretion?
Sarah Morkrzycki (2023, Victoria University) - Mem Fox’s book banned in Florida as ‘pornography’ - but bathing is not a sexual act
Hannah Natanson (2023, Washington Post) - Objection to sexual, LGBTQ content propels spike in book challenges
You can download a full transcript here.