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Ashley Hope Pérez

Authors at the Library

Author, professor and advocate Ashley Hope Pérez presents her YA anthology, Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers’ Rights.

Authors at the Library
ASHLEY HOPE PEREZ in conversation with Elisa Stone Leahy

Tuesday, Oct 7 | 6 p.m.
Whetstone Branch | 3909 N. High St.

5:30 p.m. | Book giveaway and book sale by Cover to Cover
6:00 p.m. | Ashley Hope Pérez in conversation with Elisa Stone Leahy
6:45 p.m. | Audience Q&A
7:00 p.m. | Book sale and signing

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ASHLEY HOPE PEREZ (she/her) is the editor of Banned Together: Our Fight for Readers’ Rights, the author of three novels, a professor, and a youth advocate. She currently directs The Unite to Read Project, a Mellon Foundation-funded initiative to support positive engagement with banned books and expand youth access to diverse literature. Her 2015 novel Out of Darkness has become one of the most frequently banned novels in the United States despite its noted literary merit. Out of Darkness was described by The New York Times Book Review as a “layered tale of color lines, love and struggle in an East Texas oil town,” and was selected as a best book of the year by both Kirkus and School Library Journal. It received a 2016 Printz Honor for Literary Excellence in Young Adult Fiction, the 2016 Tomás Rivera Book Award, and the 2016 Américas Award. Her other novels, What Can’t Wait and The Knife and the Butterfly, appear on YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults and Popular Paperbacks lists. Ashley is also a former high school English teacher, holds a doctorate in comparative literature, and is an associate professor who teaches world literatures at The Ohio State University. 

Read more about her responses to book banning here.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A dazzling YA anthology that spotlights the transformative power of books while equipping teens to fight for the freedom to read, featuring the voices of 15 diverse, award-winning authors and illustrators.

Books are disappearing from shelves across the country. What does this mean for authors, illustrators, and—most crucially—for young readers?

This bold collection of fiction, memoir, poetry, graphic narratives, essays, and other genres explores book bans through various lenses, and empowers teens to fight back. From moving personal accounts to clever comebacks aimed at censorship, fifteen legendary YA authors and illustrators confront the high-stakes question of what is lost when books are kept from teens.

Contributors include Elana K. Arnold, Nikki Grimes, Ellen Hopkins, Kelly Jensen, Brendan Kiely, Maia Kobabe, Bill Konigsberg, Kyle Lukoff, MariNaomi, Trung Lê Nguyễn, Ashley Hope Pérez, Isabel Quintero, Traci Sorell, Robin Stevenson, and Padma Venkatraman; the collection is a star-studded must-read that packs strength and power into every last word.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Elisa Stone Leahy is a queer, Peruvian American children’s author who lives with her husband and kids in Columbus, Ohio. Whether creating award-winning documentary films or connecting readers to books through her work at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, Elisa has always surrounded herself with stories. Her first middle grade book, Tethered to Other Stars, was a finalist for the Cybils Award and the Ohioana Book Award. Her second book, Mallory in Full Color, was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, an Ohio Book Award finalist and was short-listed for the 2025 Lambda Literary Award. Elisa is a member of Authors Against Book Bans and Right to Read Ohio.

EVENT DETAILS

The event is free to the public but due to limited seating registration is requested.

Both authors' books will be sold on site by Cover to Cover Children's books.

A limited number of free books will be available to kids and teens, courtesy of Battelle, while supplies last. 

Columbus Metropolitan Library offers events and programs for customers of all ages. Battelle’s generous gift to the Columbus Metropolitan Library Foundation helps make it possible for the library to host additional author talks and programs for kids and teens that encourage a lifelong love of reading. Our goal is to host diverse, nationally recognized authors at programs that are free and open to all. 

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