Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · 1d

My mom reports that 13 octo- and nonogenarians from her senior living community attended today’s No Kings protest.

Five used walkers.

Four were attending a protest for the first time in their long lives.

As you can imagine, I was badly shaken to learn that my mother had joined Antifa.

7

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · 1d

Many incarcerated people use their time inside to learn, to study, and to expand their world through books. Others use books simply to survive the cruelty, isolation, and tedium of incarceration. In both cases, books are both a lifeline and a doorway.

skellyton bones jensen @heykellyjensen.bsky.social · 1d

Give Prison Banned Books Week as much attention next week as Banned Book Week.

skellyton bones jensen @heykellyjensen.bsky.social · 2d

Reading and resources for Prison Banned Books week, which runs all week next week.

That, plus this week's lengthy book censorship news roundup: bookriot.com/reading-and-...

1 5

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you!!

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · 1d

This is what solidarity looks like. University presidents and trustees, take note.

Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 1d

Here's an issue from the Purdue Univ. student paper, The Exponent, dealing with the IU censorship of their student paper. Purdue put it in IU news boxes. (Purdue & IU are normally huge sports rivals.)

Download link: www.purdueexponent.org/frontpdf/lat...

1

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · 5d

The CDC Library plays an important role in providing our public health professionals with access to the best information.

Without them, CDC employees will lose access to information and resources in an outbreak.

bit.ly/4qaDIMi via @everylibrary.bsky.social

PETITION: Protect the Center for Disease Control Library

Staff at the CDC Library were laid off on October 10th and have not been brought back. Sign the petition to call for their return.

bit.ly

2

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · 6d

The good news is that some banned books were returned to classrooms in the Leander ISD in Texas last week. The bad news is that four titles were not: The 57 Bus, Stamped, Melissa, and Gracefully Grayson.

www.kvue.com/article/news...

Leander ISD returns dozens of books to classrooms after review of compliance with new state law

The district said it reinstated 36 of the 40 books it pulled from classrooms with "revisions to curriculum materials."

www.kvue.com

1 2

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · 6d

If you polled female athletes about the obstacles they face on a daily basis, trans teammates or opponents wouldn’t even make the list. I write about the real issues in women’s sports in this week’s Sigh of Relief.

open.substack.com/pub/dashkasl...

1

Reposted by Dashka Slater

Macmillan Children's School & Library Marketing @mackidssl.bsky.social · 11d

We believe that every person, of every age, of every race, of every gender, no matter who they love, or where they live, should have access to books that reflect and expand their worldview. #UniteAgainstBookBans #BannedBooksWeek

2 44 99

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · 20d

What happens when we memory-hole fascism? Let’s ask Spain, which did exactly that. I wrote about history and democracy and what happens when we accept false narratives in this week’s Sigh of Relief.

dashkaslater.substack.com/p/the-pact-o...

The Pact of Forgetting

Can you memory-hole fascism? Let's ask Spain.

dashkaslater.substack.com

2

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · 21d

I'm really looking forward to talking about truth with Eugene Yelchin. Join us!

4

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · Sep 16

I can’t even. If you’ve asked “what can I do about book bans?” please leave a comment on this atrocious proposa.

Authors Against Book Bans @authorsabb.bsky.social · Sep 16

Call to action for Alabama! Leave a public comment on a truly terrible proposal that would ban "positive descriptions" of trans people in libraries. www.erininthemorning.com/p/positive-d...

"Positive Depictions" Of Trans People Banned In Alabama State Libraries Proposal

The code change that has been proposed does not ban negative depictions of transgender people, however. Public comment is open until October 14.

www.erininthemorning.com

2 2

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · Sep 3

I have a couple of new books coming out in April 2026, and I would be very grateful if you preordered one or both of them right now from B&N using the code PREORDER25. You'll get a 25% discount when you do.

www.barnesandnoble.com/w/deep-blue-...

www.barnesandnoble.com/w/good-night...

3

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · Aug 29

Are you a California creator? Were you horrified by my story about AI impersonations, theft, and hallucinations? Sign the petition supporting the AB-412!
actionnetwork.org/petitions/le...

Let’s Be Clear: Artists & Creators Must Have Transparency NOW!

Every single day we don’t have transparency, the value of copyright loses ground and the harms inflicted to creative industries grow. California has always been on the forefront of policies that can ...

actionnetwork.org

2

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · Aug 29

Come along on a dystopian adventure in which discover that Chat GPT has rewritten my books and a nameless scammer has rewritten my personality.

dashkaslater.substack.com/p/nothing-is...

Nothing Is Real, Including Me

In which I am impersonated and Chat GPT rewrites one of my books. Plus a new MFA program, an update on my book ban lawsuit, a scam alert, and a deep discount on the Accountable ebook.

dashkaslater.substack.com

1

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · Aug 1

Just dropping by to say that ACCOUNTABLE, a nonfiction page-turner about a racist social media account at a public high school, is currently downpriced as an ebook for $2.99.
bit.ly/3GsVtoe

Accountable

YALSA AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION WINNERCalifornia Book Award WinnerJ. Anthony Lukas Book Prize WinnerFrom the New York Times-bestselling author of Th...

bit.ly

6 5

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · Jul 28

Was Epstein murdered? In a way. And so were 695 other people held in American jails and prisons who died by suicide that same year due to some combination of indifference and incompetence.

Content Warning: This article discusses death by suicide

dashkaslater.substack.com/p/epsteins-d...

1

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · Jul 18

What's the difference between loneliness and solitude, and why is one so dangerous to democracy and the other so crucial? I explore the distinction in this week's Sigh of Relief.

dashkaslater.substack.com/p/alone-with...

Alone With Your Thoughts

How Loneliness, Fascism, and Disinformation Work In Concert

dashkaslater.substack.com

1 1

Reposted by Dashka Slater

Matthew C Winner @matthewcwinner.bsky.social · Jul 14

Listen Back: @dashkaslater.bsky.social and The Fan Brothers, author and illustrators of The Antlered Ship, talk about the spirit of asking questions, a thread of melancholy, and how sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.. www.allthewonders.com/podcasts/das... #kidlit #podcast

Dashka Slater and the Fan Brothers: All The Wonders, Episode 419

Dashka Slater and The Fan Brothers, author and illustrators respectively of The Antlered Ship, stop by the podcast to talk about the spirit of asking questions, a thread of melancholy, and how sometim...

www.allthewonders.com

1 3

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · Jul 11

I wrote about the joys of having conversations with strangers and why having them is a blow against tyranny, extractive capitalism, automation, and isolation.

dashkaslater.substack.com/p/talk-to-st...

Talk to Strangers

A question at a cafe leads to an unexpected heart-to-heart.

dashkaslater.substack.com

2 5

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · Jun 27

Each month, I share a list of interesting articles & podcasts. This month: community & resistance — how can we come together in this dark time? How do we create a vision of the future worth fighting for? No doomscrolling here, but lots of food for thought.

dashkaslater.substack.com/p/june-links...

June Links and Thinks

Ideas for your brain and balm for your soul

dashkaslater.substack.com

Reposted by Dashka Slater

Rae (she/her) @thathauntedgirl.bsky.social · Jun 14

i just finished reading Accountable by
@dashkaslater.bsky.social

i sobbed the entire way through. this book was the reminder i needed that no matter how scary the world gets, Justice and Revenge are not the same thing.

healing cannot happen by continuing cycles of violence and punishment.

1 4

Reposted by Dashka Slater

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · Jun 12

We need *mass* mobilization in the U.S. right now, and I think that people who are somehow still focused on sneering at Perfidious Wine Mom Liberals are profoundly unserious

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · Jun 12

The people railing about Cowardly Liberals right now really don’t seem to understand how I bet at least 90% of the people who show up to protest would self-identify as if you asked them about their political beliefs

94 600 4.2K

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · May 11

That feeling when your book is on a list with a lot of beautiful and important books 🙌 . . . and then you realize what kind of list it is 🤬.

Thanks @huffpost.com for keeping the spotlight on the Trump administration’s attack on the freedom to read.

www.huffpost.com/entry/defens...

The Military's K-12 Schools Are Banning Award-Winning Kids’ Books To Appease Trump

HuffPost obtained an internal list of books “quarantined” in Defense Department-run schools because they talk about transgender people and Black history.

www.huffpost.com

7 26

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · May 9

It was an amazing night!

Deborah Heiligman (she/her) @dheiligman.bsky.social · May 7

Congratulations to @dashkaslater.bsky.social for winning the Lucas Prize, 2024. Accountable was the 1st #YAnonfiction to win! Ceremony for 2024 & 2025 truly inspiring. @columbiajournalism.bsky.social Dashka w/agent @agentemurph.bsky.social & editor Joy Peskin. @fiercereads.bsky.social #kidlit

2 6

Dashka Slater @dashkaslater.bsky.social · Apr 28

Trump would like us to narrow our sphere of concern to those "deserving" of due process rights. We can push back by widening our scope of interest to encompass even those whose behavior is repellent to us. Read why in today's newsletter.

dashkaslater.substack.com/p/not-just-t...

dashkaslater.substack.com

2