Trump administration could change the way we read, from book bans to author talks
Trump administration could change the way we read, from book bans to author talks
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US schools banned 10,000 books last school year alone
It's Banned Books Week in the U.S. and it comes as we're learning more than 10,000 books were banned in public schools nationwide last year.
Straight Arrow News
Despite the international buzz over her latest romance novel "Deep End," author Ali Hazelwood told fans she had to cancel her U.K. book tour.
In a social media post, the bestselling romance author who was born in Italy cited border concerns with leaving and reentering the U.S., mirroring concerns from tourists, noncitizens and visa and green card holders about the Trump administration's recent deportation and border actions.
Hazelwood's tour snag sparked a discussion on book communities about how President Donald Trump's recent policies would trickle down to publishing. Amid book banning, border policies, new anti-DEI sentiments and federal library grant cuts, these are the ways the new administration may impact readers.
Trump administration's policies shake author tour plans
Hazelwood, who is originally from Italy and now resides in the U.S., was booked for several international appearances before she canceled because "it's not possible for me to safely travel outside and then back inside the US," she wrote on Instagram.
But Curtis Chin, the Detroit-based author of "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant," decided to move his tour abroad after several U.S. colleges canceled book talks with him, citing funding cuts from federal arts grants.
"Asian American Heritage Month is May, right? So I'm usually booked giving speeches," he says, but not this year.
Around the same time, the John Adams Institute in Amsterdam invited him to talk about his book and being a writer of color in the U.S. during the Trump administration. Then, he got booked at Oxford University and the British Library. Soon, he had 21 events abroad in just one month.
"Maybe in America we're not ready to talk about these things, but maybe there are other places," Chin says.
Still, it comes with a steep financial loss for Chin. He's losing two months of income because his European stops are unpaid opportunities. With U.S. events, he often makes thousands of dollars per event, occasionally up to $10,000.
Authors worry about impact of Trump, DEI backslide
In Chin's mind, it's not a coincidence that May was the first AAPI Month he wasn't fully booked with speaking engagements. He also worried about June's Pride Month, another typically busy month for him. His shift to international engagements, he says, feels reminiscent of historical movements of artists of color to Europe to evade discrimination, like James Baldwin and Josephine Baker.
"In some small way, I'm in that same tradition where the things that we're writing, the things that we're creating are facing these extraordinary scrutiny and challenges," Chin says.
Trump has not issued a proclamation for Pride Month, instead starting June with several actions undermining gains for LGBTQ+ Americans.
And though Trump did formally recognize AAPI Month as past presidents have, his efforts to purge DEI practices led major companies like Disney, IBM and Goldman Sachs to publicly scrap DEI initiatives. The majority of organizations have "simply gone quiet" on DEI, according to past reporting from USA TODAY. And in early May, Trump fired longtime Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, the first Black American and first woman to head the library, because of her "pursuit of DEI." Hayden had been leading the "Of the People" initiative to bring more works from Black, Indigenous, Hispanic or Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander and other communities of color into the library's collections.
Books typically take between two and three years to publish. If publishers follow in the suit of major companies turning away from – or staying silent – on DEI, we may not see the effect until years down the line.
"It actually occurred to me, maybe I should hold off and wait until Trump is out of office before I try to sell my book because I don't know if publishers are afraid of publishing books by people of color. Because maybe there's a perception that these books may be banned, these books may not be bought by libraries," Chin says. "But then I thought to myself, I can't be afraid."
Grant cuts threaten libraries, public spaces for readers
In March, Trump issued an executive order that terminated dozens of federal grants held by libraries, archives and museums. The Institute of Museum and Library Services, one of those agencies, distributes millions of dollars in congressionally approved funds to libraries across the country. A federal judge has since blocked the Trump administration, but uncertainty about the state of funding means some libraries have already abandoned programs and implemented hiring freezes.
The administration's termination of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts also impacts authors and academics. Michigan Humanities, the state affiliate of NEH, was left with a $900,000 budget loss after the cuts, according to the Detroit Free Press. One shuttered program is Great Michigan Read, which "engages 300 organizations in all 83 counties," according to the organization's president and CEO.
This year, Chin was the recipient of the annual grant, which would normally buy around 6,000 copies of Chin's book and send him on a 15-city tour of the state. Then he got word that the program could not proceed because of the funding cuts.
The rollback is particularly devastating to Chin because, growing up in Detroit and Ann Arbor, he didn't see himself represented in the books in his classrooms and libraries.
"That's why we write, because we want to be seen and we want to help other people navigate their lives, right?" Chin says. "They're denying us an audience because they don't like what we have to say. They don't like our vision of the country. But, I would argue that our vision of the country is a loving vision of America. It's an open, embracing vision of America."
The publishing world's most influential voices are also speaking out. Before the judge blocked Trump's executive order to eliminate IMLS funding, four of the Big Five publishers – Hachette, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster – as well as Sourcebooks, called on Congress to reject the order. And at this year's PEN America Literary Gala, actress and SPJ Lit imprint founder Sarah Jessica Parker said she was "enraged" at threats to libraries and librarians across the country.
"To censor books is to limit imagination, curiosity, connection, empathy and inspiration. Libraries aren't just buildings with shelves, they are a beacon," Parker said. "They are warm in the winter and cool in summer, and they are sanctuaries of possibility. They are the heartbeat of a neighborhood."
Book banning continues in libraries, classrooms
A late March order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth led to 400 books being removed from the U.S. Naval Academy's library to "comply with directives outlined in executive orders issued by the president," according to a statement from a Navy spokesperson reported by The New York Times. Most of the banned titles – a ban is any restriction on access, according to the American Library Association – discuss race, gender or sexuality. Books embraced by white supremacists, like "Mein Kampf," "The Camp of Saints" and "The Bell Curve" remained on the shelves.
One ongoing Supreme Court case, Mahmoud v. Taylor, appears likely to rule that parents can opt their children out of classroom books that include representations of gender and sexuality that go against their religion. The Trump administration agrees with the parents.
PEN America has filed an amicus brief in support of Thomas W. Taylor, the respondent in the case representing Montgomery County Public Schools. In a press release, the organization warned a ruling in favor of the parents could "turbocharge the already dire state of book bans and educational censorship."
"An opt-out would chill freedom of speech for students, teachers and authors and would constitute viewpoint discrimination, raising core First Amendment concerns," PEN America's Chief Legal Officer Eileen Hershenov said in the release. "Both legally and practically, this would deny students access to diverse literature that spurs empathy, understanding and prepares them for lives in a pluralistic society."
Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at cmulroy@usatoday.com.
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