Malinda Lo

@malindalo.bsky.social

4895 Followers 316 Following

NYT bestselling author, National Book Award winner. 🏳️‍🌈 My brand is lesbians. https://www.malindalo.com/

Top image: The logo for Mass Freedom To Read, in red, white, and blue, featuring a colonial-era patriot holding a flag and reading a book. Bottom image: A red book with yellow tape across it and the words "Banned Books Week"
"While we rightfully focus on the impacts of censorship across our communities, including to students, teachers, readers, booksellers, librarians, languages, cultures and more—there is only one thing needed for storytelling, and that's a storyteller," she said. "At its heart, storytelling is truth, it is authenticity, and there is no greater threat to fascism."
* What readers mean by literary: “Some of these sentences were beautiful” * What writers mean by literary: “I am smart” * What publishers mean by literary: “If this is going to sell, it’s going to be on perceived prestige, not on a big hooky plot”
A flyer for an event that reads: PLEASE JOIN US SAVE OUR STORIES: Lawmakers on Protecting the Right to Read Freely The backlash to book-banning has arrived, with 6 states passing Freedom to Read laws this year--and 19 others proposing such laws. Join Penguin Random House Public Policy and an all-star panel of state lawmakers to discuss the progress we've made toward protecting the right to read freely, the challenges ahead, and how to inspire the movement in your own community and state legislation. Panel will include: Sen. Lisa Cutter (D-CO), Assistant Majority Leader Sen. Dafna Michaelson-Jenet (D-CO) Rep. Veronica Paiz (D-MI) Rep. Carol Glanville (D-MI) Beacon Press 24 Farnsworth Street Boston, MA 02210 TUESDAY, AUGUST 5th Doors open at 6 pm, panel begins at 6:30 Powered by Penguin Random House
One, Szalai is a very caring mother who wants the best for her child and the same for every other child in the state of South Carolina. Two, she is a very controlling mother who wants to protect her child — and all children — at all costs, other points of view be damned. Three, she seems to think at least some people — it’s unclear exactly who — are “idiots” who “are just not worth the air we breathe.” Four, she may think even less of librarians, whom she clearly doesn’t trust or value. Five, this is who is calling the shots on which books the children of South Carolina have free access to.
"If I took a video of what's in my mind, we're not going to get thrown off YouTube," Hanley said of the books that met the threshold to be kept in schools — as opposed to the ones that have been removed, which suggest images he says he can't get out of his head.
From the Boston Globe: “This is how democracies die, says co-author of ‘How Democracies Die’ — 11:57 a.m. Steven Levitsky, a professor of government and Latin American studies at Harvard University, was unequivocal about Trump’s threat to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status. “This is just textbook authoritarian behavior,” he said Friday. “You will never find, in a democracy, a government attacking a private institution in this selective and arbitrary manner.” And if the Trump administration follows through on its threat, he added, “this is about as blatantly authoritarian an act as he’s committed in his four-month presidency.”
A quote from AT THE EDGE OF EMPIRE by Edward Wong, in which Wong is speaking with Chinese writer Murong Xuecun: "The worst effect of the censorship is the psychological impact on writers," he said in between drags on a cigarette on his balcony. "When I was working on my first book, I didn't care whether it would be published, so I wrote whatever I wanted. Now, after I have published a few books, I can clearly feel the impact of censorship when I write. For example, I'll think of a sentence, and then realize that it will for sure get deleted. Then I won't even write it down. This self-censoring is the worst."
A photograph of my dog, Leia, sitting on a fur blanket-covered armchair. Leia is a terrier mix with white fur, a large brown spot around her left eye, and a small brown ring around her left eye. She has giant perky ears and beautiful brown eyes and she thinks she is gorgeous.
A sign that says “Gulf of Fragile Masculinity” with an illustration of a gulf of water
Members of the MA chapter of Authors Against Book Bans holding our signs in Boston Common: left to right - LGBTQ+ books save lives, Bans off our books, Free speech makes America great, Hands off libraries
A screencap of a page on Booklooks.org that lists three books, their authors, their ratings, and whether or not they have a "slick sheet." The books are L8r, G8r by Lauren Myracle (rating: 3), Lady Midnight: The Dark Artifices Book 1 by Cassandra Clare (rating: 3), and Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (Rating: 4). The only one with a Slick Sheet is Telegraph Club. My book is so special!!!
“It’s not a badge of honor to have my creative work denigrated as obscene, especially when that work is about queer people and people of color. It’s offensive to have my work mischaracterized this way.” — Malinda Lo
A screencap of a message from Google Workspace that says: Dear administrator, We’re writing to let you know that as early as February 5, 2025, users in your organization with qualifying Google Workspace editions will have access to NotebookLM as a core service. Currently, NotebookLM is available as an additional service. What this means for your organization NotebookLM is our AI-powered research assistant. It helps you gain critical insights and generate podcast-like audio overviews. It uses content from source documents you trust. As early as February 5, 2025, NotebookLM will be covered under your existing Google Workspace agreement.
The author Malinda Lo is standing next to a stack of paperback copies of Last Night at the Telegraph Club.
The word “salvation”
A hardcover copy of “Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning” by Cathy Park Hong, standing on a wooden shelf in front of a white wall. The title words have flames emerging from the letters.
A paperback copy of “The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell lying on a wooden shelf. The book cover has two images; on the top half is a circular painting of a bearded white man on a background of blue with yellow stars. On the bottom half is a painting of a flock of birds.
A paperback copy of “Prep” by Curtis Sittenfeld. The cover depicts a belt that is pink on one side and yellow on the other.
A paperback copy of "The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching" by Thich Nhat Hanh lying on a wooden shelf. The book cover depicts a statue of the Buddha.
A paperback copy of "Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver" on a wooden shelf. The cover shows a black-and-white picture of a small bird perched on the fingers of someone's hand; with the other hand they are feeding the bird with a spoon.
A paperback copy of "When I Grow Up I Want To Be a List of Further Possibilities" by Chen Chen. The cover depicts an abstract repeated outline of an oval shape that could be a human head, along with a line of red egg-like shapes.
A hardcover copy of "The Paying Guests" by Sarah Waters standing on a wooden shelf. The black cover depicts a white woman looking down to the left with her bare left arm extended behind her.
A paperback copy of "The Price of Salt" by Patricia Highsmith lying on a wooden shelf. The book cover is in black and white and shows a woman standing against a wall, looking down while apparently chewing on the nails of her right hand.
A paperback copy of “Faithful Place” by Tana French lies on a wooden shelf. The cover shows the title and author’s name against a backdrop of crackled white wood siding, as if on a house. Some green lichen is growing on it.
A paperback copy of "Station Eleven" by Emily St. John Mandel. The cover depicts a group of tents lit from within on a green field beneath a dark, star-covered sky.
A white dog with a brown spot over her eye lies on the grass cradling a stick in her paws.
A paperback copy of "Stories of Your Life and Others" by Ted Chiang. The cover illustration shows a clock formed by the words of the title and author's name, along with two hands and a second hand. In the background is a blue sky with white clouds.
A paperback copy of Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters. The cover depicts two women in striped stockings sitting on a swing.
A hardcover copy of Collected Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay lying on a wooden shelf. The jacket is plain white with a green title. The author’s name is in black.
A hardcover edition of Anne of Green Gables: Three Volumes in One by Lucy Maud Montgomery, containing Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, and Anne’s House of Dreams. The book cover depicts a red-haired girl in a white blouse, blue skirt, and white hat sitting on a bench in a grassy field with autumn trees in the background.
A hardcover copy of THE HERO AND THE CROWN by Robin McKinley. The cover has an illustration of a dragon being fought by a rider with a sword on a white horse. The cover has a gold sticker on it: the Newbery Medal.
A paperback copy of the book BEAUTY by Robin McKinley lies on a wooden shelf. The cover depicts a red-haired young woman in a pink dress standing in a garden with pink roses in the lower right corner. In the background is a mountain and a blue sky.
The book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott lies open to the title page on a wooden shelf. This is the Illustrated Junior Library edition from Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, New York, illustrated by Louis Jambor. On the facing page is an illustration of three young women in 19th century dresses sitting together, talking and sewing.
A hardcover copy of a book titled “In the Eye of the Typhoon: An American woman shares in the upheavals of China’s Cultural Revolution 1966-1978” by Ruth Earnshaw Lo and Katharine S. Kinderman, Introduction by John K. Fairbank. The book jacket is red, the title is black, and there are four yellow Chinese characters running vertically down the right side. The jacket itself is worn on the edges.
A hardcover book lying flat on a shelf. The book is A RING OF ENDLESS LIGHT by Madeleine L'Engle. The cover has a color illustration of a girl, wearing a black bathing suit, riding a gray dolphin that is leaping out of the ocean.
A paperback copy of THE SECRET IN THE OLD LACE by Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew #59). The cover is lavender and depicts a red-haired girl in a pink blouse and brown skirt holding a fragment of lace. Behind her, standing on a stone bridge, is a dark-haired man in a red jacket and white cravat. Behind him looms a large sinister figure in a black cloak. In the background are buildings with conical roofs that look like castles.