Banned Books: A Reading and Conversation with Maia Kobabe

Joined by Kristen Caschera and Miranda Green-Barteet

People have always sought to ban books that are seen as controversial, but since 2019, the number of book challenges and bans have risen exponentially in North America, with parent groups, politicians, and religious groups calling for books to be removed from library shelves, classrooms, and school curriculums. Books about racism, sexuality, gender, and history as well as books written by authors of color, by LGBTQIA+ authors, and by women are most likely to be challenged and banned. Those calling for book bans often claim to be protecting children from being exposed to what the challengers consider harmful topics, but they are actually arguing that their values matter more than others'. Prof. Miranda Green-Barteet will lead a discussion about the history and damaging effects of book challenges and bans with Genderqueer author Maia Kobabe and LPL librarian Kristen Kaschera.

Maia Kobabe is an author/illustrator. Eir graphic novel, Gender Queer: A Memoir, was the most challenged book in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Maia’s comics have been published in many places including The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and anthologies including Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers’ Rights. Maia’s second book, the nonfiction comic Breathe: Journeys to Healthy Binding, co-written by Dr. Sarah Peitzmeier, came out last year, and eir debut middle grade graphic novel, OPTING OUT, co-written by Swati “Lucky” Srikumar, will be published in 2026.

Kristen Caschera is a librarian and supervisor at London Public Library. She is a two-time Western alum (B.A. English ‘04; MLIS ‘11) and has worked at London Public Library for 15 years. An avid reader and book lover, Kristen is passionate about the role libraries play in providing readers’ advisory services.

Miranda Green-Barteet is an associate professor, joint-appointed in the Departments of English & Writing Studies and Gender, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies. Her research focuses on issues of race, gender, and power in both 19th-century US literature and in contemporary Young Adult literature. She has published on perceptions of space in the works of Harriet Jacobs and Harriet Wilson; violence and femininity in the works of Sarah Pogson; race, gender, and rebellion in The Hunger Games trilogy; and non-normative girlhood in YA speculative fiction. Her co-edited collection of essays, Race in Young Adult Speculative Fiction (University Press of Mississippi, 2021) was named the Best Edited Collection of 2021 by the Children’s Literature Association. Her book chapter, “Censorship,” is available in Children’s Literature and Culture: An Introduction, which was edited by Rebecca Rowe. She is currently teaching a course entitled “Banned and Challenged Books.”

This event is hosted by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities - a partnership between the Department of English and Writing Studies, the School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities, and the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies