QUILLBLOG

YA authors’ boycott shuts down Teen Lit festival in Texas

The Guardian reports that a Texas literary festival for teen readers has been canceled after a group of authors declined to attend. The authors are boycotting the event because organizers disinvited controversial YA author Ellen Hopkins:

Hopkins, whose New York Times bestselling novels deal with topics from teenage drug addiction to prostitution and suicide, says she was invited to take part in the Humble Teen Lit Fest next January but after a librarian raised a fuss with some parents about the suitability of including her, the invitation was rescinded. Teen writers including Melissa de la Cruz, Pete Hautman and Matt de la Peña all pulled out in solidarity, the event has now been cancelled, and the National Coalition Against Censorship, along with five other organisations, is calling on the school district’s superintendent to reinstate the festival “as originally planned”.

“To deny all students access to an author because some people object to her views violates the rights of other students who want to meet her and hear her speak, and the rights of their parents not to have their own child’s education restricted to accommodate the demands of others,” wrote NCAC executive director Joan E. Bertin in a letter.