And then I go back through and I deepen so much,” she said. “I revise a lot as I go and I always find like the first draft is really only a starting point. She writes non-linearly and in a very fragmented way, taking a long time to get to know her characters. LaCour said she became an author because she loves being in her head, the quiet of writing for hours, imagining people and situations, fictionalizing real events and making sense of trauma.

Following who is running for school board, voting and showing up at school board meetings are ways to help your community, she said. Being involved on the local level is important. To keep books out because gatekeepers want only one type of viewpoint represented is a huge problem, she said, but she doesn’t know the larger solution. “I think one of the things that we talk about the most, especially in writing for young people … is how everybody deserves to see themselves and their experiences reflected in literature.” And it’s just a terrible thing,” LaCour said.

This is an incredible coordinated attack on books in schools and libraries. “The censorship that’s happening right now is just not anything that we have seen in modern American history. LaCour on screen with her banned book, “Hold Still,” in the Bundy Reading Room, April 13. The whole hour of LaCour’s visit consisted of a question-and-answer session. She said her books have also been banned from libraries across the country.Įnglish Club members attended the event in person, while LaCour visited virtually by Zoom via a projector where she could see and hear the students. LaCour said her book “Hold Still” was banned at a Kansas City high school, which shocked her. LaCour, author of queer romance book “Yerba Buena,” virtually visited the English Club at 4:30 p.m. Author Nina LaCour is not afraid to honestly address emotionally heavy issues in her novels, despite facing censorship due to LGBTQ+ themes and her depictions of grief.

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