My brilliant speaking agent, author Phil Bildner, often says there’s nothing to celebrate about Banned Books Week. I agree.

Last year, in October, during banned book week, just as I was about to fly to an event, I was asked, by a school in Texas, to stay home. They decided my talk was inappropriate, because I mentioned the fact that, just as there are injustices in the justice system in India (as brought to life in BORN BEHIND BARS), systemic racism in our nation results in the incarceration of inordinately higher numbers of people who are Black, compared to whites.

But this year, although there is nothing happy about book bans, I decided to focus on a few positive things that have resulted in my life, in part because of the unprecedented censorship. First and foremost, I met a young person whom I hold in the highest regard: Christopher Lau, founder of UNBAN COOLIES. When Christopher wrote to me, I’ll admit I thought he was sending me hate mail. For those who’re unaware, coolie is a derogatory term that was used by British colonizers for Indians like me. Growing up in British occupied India, my mom was called a coolie. The incident inspired a scene in my debut novel, CLIMBING THE STAIRS.

Luckily, I didn’t delete Christopher’s email, and what resulted was one of the most wonderful interviews of my life. Every communication Christopher sent me demonstrated how thoughtful and mature he is, and the interview was magnificent. It was absolutely heartening to see this young person with such a deep commitment to preserving and speaking out for freedom of speech. He is an inspiration to me – and if anyone out there comes across this post and is considering recruiting Christopher, I would like to register my heartiest support. I predict he’ll do amazing things in the future, no matter where he goes or what he does – and if he ever runs for office, he can count on my vote. Please visit his YouTube channel, UNBAN COOLIES, and follow him. Here’s a link to his meticulously researched interview of me: https://youtu.be/pu8VzJJxUL0?si=xmOFyWWQBo48OPD9 And if you’d like to read more about Christopher, I was thrilled to discover he is featured in this anthology (out next year) edited by Ashley Hope Perez (and to which I contributed a short story, entitled WORD WARRIORS).

The second positive personal thing to result from this book-banning nonsense was my contact with Cathy Fisher and Alexa Muse who created the EVERYDAY ADVOCACY project. I was honored to contribute a video for them. You can see it on their YouTube channel here. 

The third positive thing is my deepening friendship with Jeanette Bradley. I met her when she invited me to speak at the festival for diverse books that she was organizing in RI. When AABB asked if I’d hold the reins of the RI chapter, I agreed; but I reached out to her to see if she’d share the leadership with me, because I think it’s always nicer to share lead roles. And what a force of nature she is. Her energy and commitment to the cause of freedom have blown me away, and I am incredibly glad to be working with her and an amazing team of RI authors and allies to combat censorship. If you’re a RI resident and you haven’t signed up for AABB-RI yet – please do so here. If you’re a RI resident who isn’t an author and would like to be an ally, please contact me. And, if you have the time, I hope you’ll meet us both at this wonderful event that is being organized by ACLU -RI at the Rochambeau Library on Sept 26 at 6 pm: