Ian Tan here, lead editor and project coordinator of UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology, set to release this October 29. Here is the UnCensored Ink interview series to introduce you all to the incredible writers, as well as the local bookstores and libraries that gave them safe creative spaces. Hopefully you can put these incredible places on your to-visit list, and feel inspired to support your own local bookstore, library and indie authors.
Today I am with Dana Hawkins from Minnesota. She is a contemporary romance author of sparkly stories. When not searching the country for the perfect cup of piping hot Americano, she spends her time chasing her kids and rewatching ’90s movies. After living for twenty years in Seattle, she recently trekked back to her hometown. She is a huge romance-genre book nerd and borderline obsessed with happy-ever-afters.
1. You’ve written a fine piece for UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology. Can you give us a synopsis? How did the idea for this piece come about?
My short piece is about a young trans girl, Emma, who is putting on make-up for the first time and her father’s reaction to seeing his daughter in her authentic self. I wanted to capture the freeing feeling of being yourself and the power a positive parental response can have on a child.
2. Now, we would love to know you more! What do you enjoy doing in your free time, what is your favorite book quote, and how did you get into reading and writing?
In my free time, besides writing, I love taking my kids to the river to skip rocks, read, or rewatch the same shows I’ve watched a million times (Schitt’s Creek, anyone?). I have loved to read since I was a kid but didn’t get into writing until the pandemic. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. Regarding my favorite book quote, there are too many to choose from!
3. Do you have a favorite local library or bookstore? Also can you remember bookstores and libraries from your childhood, if they are not the same as the ones now?
The King County Public Library is great. I recently moved from Seattle, and when I lived there, I went to their Fairwood branch once a week. In Minnesota, I really love St. Cloud Barnes and Noble.
4. Tell us more about this bookstore/library. What do you love most about it?
St. Cloud Barnes and Noble has been hugely supportive of me and even invited me to do a book signing during Pride month. They have my books prominently displayed, and I have had several wonderful interactions with their team.
5. What do you have to say on the importance of sustaining bookstores and libraries?
Books, especially diverse books, are critical. They can save lives, and I am not saying that to be dramatic. When people see themselves in stories, it unlocks something in our souls and helps us feel less isolated. It also introduces readers and humanizes people and cultures we may be unfamiliar with.
6. Do you have any projects that your current and future readers can look forward to?
Yes! I am always working on projects. I will release the third book in my sapphic rom-com series in January. Please stay tuned.
7. Lastly, what platforms can we find you?
danahawkins.com
Instagram @d.hawkinsauthor
Twitter @DHawkinsAuthor
Well, that’s Dana Hawkins from Minnesota, everyone! Stay posted till the next one, as we head on out of the Midwest, on to Oklahoma!
Ian Tan here, lead editor and project coordinator of UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology, set to release this October 29. Here is the UnCensored Ink interview series to introduce you all to the incredible writers, as well as the local bookstores and libraries that gave them safe creative spaces. Hopefully you can put these incredible places on your to-visit list, and feel inspired to support your own local bookstore, library and indie authors.
Today I am with Eric Diekhans from Illinois. His fiction has appeared in Etched Onyx and Jelly Bucket magazines, and the collection Unforgettable (Walkabout Publishing), His screenplays won the Chicago Screenwriters Network and Illinois/Chicago Screenplay competitions, and he is the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Screenwriting. Diekhans received a BA in Comparative Literature from Indiana University and an MA in Film from Northwestern.
1. You’ve written a fine piece for UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology. Can you give us a synopsis? How did the idea for this piece come about?
I have two pieces in UnCensored. The Librarians is an excerpt from my novel set in post-apocalyptic America. It’s about a young woman who escapes her walled city where the citizens are kept ignorant of the outside world and joins a valiant band of librarians who spread literacy to a world on the brink of renewed violence. It was inspired by all the talk about building walls and banning books. My always speculating mind put the two ideas together.
My second piece is the short story “Cherry Bomb,” about a school library where all those pesky, controversial words contained in books have been eliminated. I was inspired to write the story while watching the Frederick Wiseman documentary Ex Libris—The New York Public Library. There’s a wonderful scene in the movie that takes place in the picture collection, which contains drawers filled with historic photos. I imagined that room was the library’s entire collection.
2. Now, we would love to know you more! What do you enjoy doing in your free time, what is your favorite book quote, and how did you get into reading and writing?
I’m an avid cyclist and belong to two bike clubs. The long miles clear my head, allowing me to come back to the page with new energy. I love travel and languages. I’m currently studying Armenian, which I became interested in after we adopted our youngest daughter from Armenia. I can’t say that I have a favorite book quote, though I keep an inspirational quote on my computer screen: “Be bold, push yourself, and get comfortable being uncomfortable.” I think that’s sound advice to a writer.
I’ve always been a voracious reader. In high school English, I would sit in the back of the class with a book in front of my face because I had already finished the assigned reading days ago. After receiving a Masters in film from Northwestern, I produced other people’s short films. I made attempts at writing, but I always found them lacking. I thought great writers were born, not made. Then a girlfriend bought a copy of The Artists Way. She had a habit of buying books and not reading them, so I picked it up. It changed my life. I realized there was a stuck writer inside me waiting to get out.
3. Do you have a favorite local library or bookstore? Also can you remember bookstores and libraries from your childhood, if they are not the same as the ones now?
I had a traumatic experience in a library as a child. I stepped into the library excited to check out books. I went to the counter and asked the librarian where I could find books on World War II. She looked at me sternly over her glasses and said, “Check the card catalog.” She inspired Mr. Gordon in The Librarians.
That said, I do love my local library in Evanston, Illinois.
4. Tell us more about this bookstore/library. What do you love most about it?
The Evanston Public Library is a lovely space with a beautiful mobile hanging above the stairway. A couple of years ago, I was taking my daughters to San Francisco and wanted to find a good guidebook. I asked the librarian behind the desk for a suggestion. She not only walked me back to the stacks and went through their collection, she shared her own extensive knowledge of The City on the Bay. She completely erased my childhood trauma.
I also love Chicago-Main Newsstand near my house. They carry a dizzying array of magazines from all over the world, a rarity today. They even carry Jelly Bucket magazine, which published one of my short stories.
5. What do you have to say on the importance of sustaining bookstores and libraries?
Bookstores and libraries are about building community. They bring people together who want to learn, explore, and meet like-minded people. They’re a haven, a refuge. Bookstores can’t compete with Amazon on price, but you can’t wander the stacks of Amazon, pulling books off the shelf, and you can’t hold an author reading or talk to a nice librarian.
6. Do you have any projects that your current and future readers can look forward to?
I’m currently seeking a publisher for The Librarians and I’m working on a new novel about an estranged mother and daughter set during the Great Recession. I’m also finishing up my next short story.
7. Lastly, what platforms can we find you? (Social media and websites are all encouraged, this is to highlight and champion you guys)
Ian Tan here, lead editor and project coordinator of UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology, set to release this October 29. Here is the UnCensored Ink interview series to introduce you all to the incredible writers, as well as the local bookstores and libraries that gave them safe creative spaces. Hopefully you can put these incredible places on your to-visit list, and feel inspired to support your own local bookstore, library and indie authors.
Today I am with Earl Carrender from Indiana. He is a poet and writer who earned his BA in English at Marian University and his MFA at Butler University. His fiction and poetry have appeared in The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library Journal, Punchnel’s, Clever, Scissors and Spackle and BullshitLit among others.
1. You’ve written a fine piece for UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology. Can you give us a synopsis? How did the idea for this piece come about?
It’s about an artist who died of AIDS in 1986. I was reading The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara and watching the Nelson Sullivan videos on YouTube and one video featured the artist Martin Burgoyne, an artist who was central to the downtown NY art scene in the 80’s. Then I read an article in the NYT about a party at the Pyramid club to raise money for Martin’s medical expenses and I wrote about that party and just kept writing
2. Now, we would love to know you more! What do you enjoy doing in your free time, what is your favorite book quote, and how did you get into reading and writing?
Free time? Cooking, reading, writing and watching documentaries mostly (I’m a big history nerd). I got into reading because the women in the neighborhood where I grew up were always trading books among themselves and they shared their books with me. I started writing when I was a kid, around 8 years old. Writing my own episodes of TV shows I liked. Favorite book quote: “We live as angels among the Sodomite,” from At Swim, Two Boys, by Jamie O’Neill. And “A mirror becomes a knife when it’s broken. A stick becomes a flute when it’s loved,” from Grapefruit by Yoko Ono.
3. Do you have a favorite local library or bookstore? Also can you remember bookstores and libraries from your childhood, if they are not the same as the ones now?
To be honest, I don’t get out to bookstores (or anywhere else) much these days. I live in a small town in Indiana, literally next to a huge cornfield! My friend, Luke Wortley, loves Books and Brews in Indy. And there’s Indy Reads (my sister works in an office nearby and she loves it). My friend, Tracy Mishkin, just gave a reading there recently and they are doing great work there with literacy and education. Another bookstore I want to go to is called Dream Palace Books. I love their website and…is that the coolest name for a bookstore or what? And, of course, there’s Carmichael’s in Louisville where I went to grad school. And it’s Indy so the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library is a must.
The libraries I remember from childhood were the school libraries. I used to skip lunch and sit in the library reading. I still remember the librarians, Mrs. Jacobs and Mrs. McDonald. I loved them. Not really a childhood memory, but in my late teens, early 20’s there used to be a “feminist” bookstore here called Dreams and Swords. For a young guy coming out, it was a godsend. It’s where I discovered queer literature, and it literally saved me. It breaks my heart that feminist/queer bookstores have virtually disappeared.
4. What do you have to say on the importance of sustaining bookstores and libraries?
Bookstores, for me, aren’t just about the books. They are about community. It’s where I found my tribe as a young queer coming out. But that’s true for everyone, not just us. Readings, open mic nights, music. I was once a member of a writer’s group that met at a local Barnes and Noble. Bookstores are a safe space. I worry that those spaces, especially for queers and misfits like me, are disappearing.
5. Do you have any projects that your current and future readers can look forward to?
I’m writing a novella-in-flash that takes place in 1968 and is inspired by the music of that period. I’m really enjoying the writing on this one because the characters are so lively!
6. Lastly, what platforms can we find you?
@Nu_Flash_Prose on X
Well, that’s Earl Carrender from Indiana, everyone! Stay posted, we are heading over into Illinois next!
Ian Tan here, lead editor and project coordinator of UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology, set to release this October 29. Here is the UnCensored Ink interview series to introduce you all to the incredible writers, as well as the local bookstores and libraries that gave them safe creative spaces. Hopefully you can put these incredible places on your to-visit list, and feel inspired to support your own local bookstore, library and indie authors.
Today I am with Jane Hartsock from Indiana. She wears a lot of hats, such as the Director of Clinical and Organizational Ethics for Indiana University Health, the Co-Director of the Scholarly Concentration in Medical Humanities at the Indiana University School of Medicine, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medical Humanities at the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts. She also holds a B.A. in English (creative writing), an M.A. in Philosophy (bioethics), and a J.D. and has published and presented at national and international conferences on the use of fiction to develop ethical sensitivity. She resides with her husband, two children, and one poorly behaved, but well-meaning Irish Terrier.
1. You’ve written a fine piece for UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology. Can you give us a synopsis? How did the idea for this piece come about?
My piece was a response to the efforts of conservatives in Hamilton County, Indiana to “reshelve” some young adult literature in the adult section of the public libraries. This campaign was clearly intended to target LGBTQ+ YA literature, which I found utterly repugnant, but other books were being pulled in as well including titles by beloved Hoosier author John Green. The reshelving project seemed to me to be the efforts of people who generally don’t use the library, and probably rarely read fiction. Certainly, if they were genuinely worried about young people accessing sexually explicit material in a library, putting that material next to the adult books is not a great plan and, I think, speaks to the absurdity of these people’s worldview. The language that was being used around this reshelving project–describing the books as “pornography”, referring to any book that was sexually suggestive as “erotica”–was intended to stigmatize the books and the people who read them. I don’t think erotica should be stigmatized, and pornography has First Amendment protections, but the books being targeted weren’t either erotica or pornography, so the whole project reeked of a kind of pseudo-censorship by people who don’t even read enough to properly genre a book.
Anyway, as a humanities professor and writer myself, and as the daughter of a literature professor and a history professor, I do know that the people trying to make it harder for other people to read are never the good guys. So my piece was a way to express that.
2. Now, we would love to know you more! What do you enjoy doing in your free time, what is your favorite book quote, and how did you get into reading and writing?
I talk a little about this in my essay on Forever, but I grew up in a house with books everywhere (my father was an historian and my mother was a literature professor). I was allowed to read anything I could get my hands on, and have early memories both of being read to and of being taught to read. I started writing little stories as a young child and in first grade won a Young Authors award in Bloomington, Indiana for a story I wrote about barn owls. In college, I pursued an English degree with a concentration in creative writing, and worked as a counselor at Butler University’s Creative Writing summer camp. I moved away from creative writing while I was practicing law, but rediscovered it during COVID and wrote a novel I self-published (Load Bearing). I am almost always writing something.
3. Do you have a favorite local library or bookstore? Also can you remember bookstores and libraries from your childhood, if they are not the same as the ones now?
My favorite library in Indianapolis is the Fort. Benjamin Harrison library, the only one in Indiana that is a Certified Autism Center.
Favorite bookstores, hands down, are Loudmouth Books on 16th Street (in Indianapolis), and Indy Reads in Fountain Square (Indianapolis)..
The exterior of the finished Fort Ben Branch Library on July 26, 2023.
Fort Ben Branch of The Indianapolis Public Library
4. Tell us more about this bookstore/library. What do you love most about it?
The Ft. Benjamin Harrison library contains an entire section of neurodiverse literature and the thoughtfulness that has gone into making a library space that is diversely accessible is something to be admired.
As for the Ruth Lilly Medical Library at the IU School of Medicine, there’s a third floor that holds the History of Medicine Room, which contains some of the oldest books on campus including a copy of Vesalius’s Fabrica made with the original woodblocks from Titian’s studio that were destroyed during World War II.
The Ruth Lilly Medical Library’s History of Medicine Room. One of the most interesting books in this collection is a copy of Vesalius’s De humani corporis fabrica.
HOM Fabrica
HOM Amputation saw
Loudmouth Books carries an amazing selection of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ literature, and Indy Reads in Fountain Square (Indianapolis) offers a large selection of works by local Indiana authors, including those of us who are self-published.
5. What do you have to say on the importance of sustaining bookstores and libraries?
Well functioning libraries are evidence of and necessary to a well functioning democracy. They democratize knowledge, by creating an environment in which knowledge is open to everyone. This is accomplished not merely through the availability of books, but through the additional resources that libraries provide, most notably computers with internet, which allow individuals to do everything from research a term paper, to apply for a job, to read the newspaper. Simultaneously, they are also repositories of the “institutional memory” of human culture. In a world that is becoming increasingly digital, and where that digital space is not always easily verifiable, libraries provide the tangible sources that allow one to confirm or verify what is available in virtual formats. They are also just nice spaces that encourage community and gathering. I am, in fact, sitting in a library right now (on the campus of Marian University), while my older kiddo meets with their geometry tutor.
Bookstores can function similarly as community spaces, and particularly independent bookstores often do. As a self-published author, it is independent bookstores that have made it easiest to shelve my book. Similarly, bookstores seem to have a sense of service to their community. I am thinking particularly of Loudmouth Books, which I mentioned previously and which engages deliberately with the LGBTQ and BIPOC community. Indy Reads is another bookstore that immediately comes to mind and provides both access to books, and has invested itself in the surrounding community through programs that assist with literacy, job training and certification, and high school equivalency exams.
6. Do you have any projects that your current and future readers can look forward to?
I am almost always writing something. My current projects include a paper on David Hume’s ethics as represented by Claire’s approach to the practice of medicine in Diana Gabaldon’s novel Outlander. I presented this paper at a conference in the summer of ’23 and that conference’s papers are now being anthologized by the University of Glasgow;
My fiction writing group is putting out a Halloween anthology for which I’ve contributed a short story–an homage to Mellencamp’s song Rain on the Scarecrow. That will be released in October of 2024.
My research partner Colin Halverson and I are working on a biography of the father-daughter team who were the first to produce an English language translation of the Ebers Papyrus (one of the oldest and most complete of the Ancient Egyptian medical papyri), we’ve had requests from two journals for smaller pieces on this bit of history;
I self-published a novel, Load Bearing, in March of 2024, and have loosely outlined two prequels to that novel;
and I’m writing another novel that I plan to release in March of 2025.
Ian Tan here, lead editor and project coordinator of UnCensored Ink: a banned book anthology, set to release this October 29. Here is an interview series called The UnCensored Pages to introduce you all to the incredible writers, as well as the local bookstores and libraries that gave them safe creative spaces. Hopefully you can put these incredible places on your to-visit list, and feel inspired to support your own local bookstore, library and indie authors.
Today, I am with Shaelynn Long from Michigan. As well as being a current small-town English instructor, she has previously published Fury’s Fate, Ache, Blur, Work In Progress, and Dirt Road Kid, as well as appearing in a previous Wild Ink anthology: The Carnation Collection. Shaelynn can usually be found with her nose in a book and covered in Corgi fur.
1. You’ve written a fine piece for UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology. Can you give us a synopsis? How did the idea for this piece come about?
For UnCensored Ink, I was driven to write a poem–something that captured my frustration with book bans. Frankly, book banning enrages me. The poem really focuses on my sense of what’s lost when we start determining which voices get heard and determining which perspectives have validity. For too long, literature has prioritized those who already have power, and it feels too coincidental that book banning is happening more frequently now that there are such loud calls for more diversity in literature. We still have such a long way to go, and the focus on banning stops that work, which is so beyond unfortunate that it’s hard for me to remain calm when talking about it. So I tried to take all of these really complex feelings and channel them into a poem that showcases my own sense of what could be lost if we let people ban books.
2. Now, we would love to know you more! What do you enjoy doing in your free time, what is your favorite book quote, and how did you get into reading and writing?
I spend most of my free time writing, which is probably not surprising. If I’m not writing, I’m probably reading! Writing has kind of turned into a bit of a side job, though, and I teach literature, which means I’m often reading books for my classes, so I’ll focus on some non-work-related hobbies! I taught myself to crochet last year, and I’m still loving it. I also sew, quilt, and cross-stitch. Something I do almost every day that I really love, though, is cooking. I bake, as well, which is so fun to do in northern Michigan because of the access to so many fresh fruits.
I’m going to be honest, I don’t really remember getting into reading and writing. It’s kind of always just been there? I know that I was frequently read to as a child, and I’m sure that has a lot to do with it–if not everything! I was always encouraged to read, and I was always given the freedom to choose books for myself. No one ever told me I was too young for a book or minimized my selections in any way. Something like that would have stuck with me, and I know I’m really lucky to have had the support of my parents and extended family. I had amazing librarians and teachers, as well, who saw me with my nose in a book and just kept encouraging that. I had a particular teacher in high school who would lend me books from her own personal library–ones she thought would interest me. Really, at every turn, I was encouraged to love reading–even when my mom caught me multiple times reading under the covers with a Fisher Price flashlight.
Choosing a single book quote is too difficult a task. I will, however, share one of my favorites:
“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.” – Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
3. Do you have a favorite local library or bookstore? Also can you remember bookstores and libraries from your childhood, if they are not the same as the ones now?
I live in a pretty small town in Michigan, currently, and we don’t have a local bookstore. There is one in a nearby city, though, called Mclean and Eakin, and it’s fantastic. I’m an instructor at the community college in the same city as that bookstore, and I still remember how giddy I was when one of my students sent me a photo of my debut novel in that store. Such a surreal feeling!
I grew up in yet another small town in Michigan, and I spent quite a bit of time during my childhood at the Coleman Area Library. That’s really where I fell in love with fantasy and science-fiction, and I’m pretty confident in saying that I wouldn’t be a writer without having had access to a library. There was no way my parents were going to be able to afford what was and has continued to be a very consuming habit with books, and being able to go to the library and find things that interested me was irreplaceable in terms of both my experiences and my memories.
4. Tell us more about this bookstore/library. What do you love most about it?
So, here’s the difficulty of talking about my time in the Coleman Library. It doesn’t exist anymore. At least, it doesn’t exist in the location that I remember most. It moved into a beautiful new building that I’ve been in and do enjoy, but my memories are all of a very old, really gorgeous brick building. (The building still exists!) The insides were pretty cramped space with metal shelves that seemed like they reached the ceiling. They probably didn’t, but I was short then and I’m only 5’2″ now, so bear with me! I remember walking in and having the wood floors creak underneath my feet. The checkout desk was just to the right of the entrance. I can still hear the sound of the date stamp being used to tell patrons when their books were due. The children’s area was upstairs, and you’d have to walk across the creaky wood floor and go through a big, heavy door. There was a narrow staircase with carpet. I think it was blue. And upstairs, through another door, was the children’s area. It’s funny how much I remember about that area, because I don’t recall choosing books from there. I remember the science-fiction and fantasy section that was just to the left of the checkout desk. A small square. It was dark and cozy.
The library was a safe space for me. I still remember the day I got my own library card. As you can imagine, it was a Big Deal. I just have so much love for libraries and librarians. Good spaces and good people.
5. What do you have to say on the importance of sustaining bookstores and libraries?
I have a strong stance on sustaining local bookstores and libraries. For one, local bookstores are small businesses that serve a very specific community, most of the time. It’s a place you can go and be a regular. And while that might not be a meaningful experience for everyone, going somewhere that feels like a place you’re not only welcomed into but made to feel like you belong in is absolutely paramount for many individuals. Supporting local bookstores means supporting community members, thus supporting the community. Local bookstores are also so much more likely to support other businesses, including local artists. That’s huge. They’re also so much more likely to respond to their consumers.
Libraries are the cornerstone of a community, plain and simple. They’re a safe place for people to go and spend time. They house tons of information, as well as ways to get to the information they don’t have. Libraries have tons of free services, too. With the rising cost of living, having access to those services can be life-changing. I said before that my parents could not have afforded to buy me all the books I read. Without access to a library, I simply wouldn’t have had access to books. Which means my world would have been very, very small and very, very limited. With access to a library, the entire world opened up for me. Beyond access to books, there’s access in a library to the internet, to meeting rooms, to activities, to social events, and to all kinds of other things. And librarians? Coolest people on earth.
Libraries are such a valuable resource. We need to support them!
6. Do you have any projects that your current and future readers can look forward to?
I do! I’ve recently written wild thing, which is a book of poetry that will be coming out from Wild Ink. I’m also working on a new romantasy, but there are no plans for publication yet. Subscribing to my newsletter is a surefire way, though, to make sure you know what’s happening in my world!
Ian Tan here, lead editor and project coordinator of UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology, set to release this October 29. Here is the UnCensored Ink interview series to introduce you all to the incredible writers, as well as the local bookstores and libraries that gave them safe creative spaces. Hopefully, you can put these incredible places on your to-visit list, and feel inspired to support your own local bookstore, library and indie authors.
Today, I am with Amanda Hayden from Ohio. She is the current Poet Laureate for Sinclair College and award-winning Professor of Humanities, Philosophy, and World Religions. She lives on a windy little farm with her partner, daughters, and many furry rescue babies including two goats, seven pigs, and an incredibly special, blind, three-legged “angel in a dog suit” Vinny Valentine.
1. You’ve written a fine piece for UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology. Can you give us a synopsis? How did the idea for this piece come about?
This prose poem is called “School of Athens at the Vatican” and was inspired by my trip to Rome and seeing this painting by Raphael up close and in person for the first time. I have taught Philosophy for 25+ years and so this is a familiar painting I have discussed with my students pretty much every semester. To see it in real life, how enormous the painting is, and all the details of each philosopher, was nearly as moving to me as seeing the David or the Sistine Chapel. I wrote it as both a descriptive narrative of several of the philosophers portrayed and as highlighting some of their individual philosophies in a poetic and stream-of-consciousness way.
Philosophers are by nature questioners of the status quo and strong advocates for knowledge, with a long history of facing censorship. Socrates was killed for his questioning, which directly affected Plato and Aristotle. Diogenes was exiled; Hypatia, the lone woman philosopher (there are many more) was literally torn limb to limb for her “radical” ideas, Simone de Beauvoir’s writings were banned by the Vatican as “pornography” and on it goes.
One of Plato’s greatest contributions is the “Allegory of the Cave” where he likens our journey to knowledge to being in a cave all our life, believing that the shadows we see are the only reality, but once we climb out into the light, we realize we were mistaken to think that the cave was all there was, that there is a whole new, brighter, clearer reality to understand and know. Historically, those who exit this cave “of ignorance” into knowledge are taunted, mocked, or even, like Socrates, killed. I end the poem with the line: “Socrates…said an educated person is defined by their ability to entertain an idea without agreeing to it and 2500 years later, we still look at those who climb out of the cave, dirt still under their nails, in fearful disgust, offense burning our faces.”
2. Now, we would love to know you more! What do you enjoy doing in your free time, what is your favorite book quote, and how did you get into reading and writing?
Well, I’m a mother of 3 fierce, amazing daughters and am a full-time Professor of Religion and Humanities and also have a small farm with several rescue animals with special needs, so “free time” is definitely the holy grail. We have several acres, so walking in our woods and prairie is my favorite way to relax and unstress, just wandering and wondering at all the beauty in nature. I do yoga regularly and have loved reading and writing from a very young age. I received a diary at Christmas when I was five and that’s when I began writing…and never stopped. My favorite book quote is a tie between the last line of Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder: “This could not be forgotten because now is now…it can never be a long time ago.” (this line inspired one of my poems in the first book) and the Shakespeare line from A Midsummer Night’s Dream: “Though she be but little, she is fierce.” I was in this play many years ago as Hippolyta and I’m also 5’1, so this quote has always resonated with me!
3. Do you have a favorite local library or bookstore? Also can you remember bookstores and libraries from your childhood, if they are not the same as the ones now?
I do have a vividly positive childhood library memory – our library was a little old building with green carpet, very 70s, and had a musty, old book smell, which I loved and STILL love to this day. It was a small town, so there was not too much selection, but I remember getting so excited to pick out a few books for each weekend, sometimes reading my favorites over and over again, a lot of Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume, I remember. I still find older books that I’ll stick my nose in and take a big whiff because they smell just like that library and take me back to such a great memory/feeling.
4. Tell us more about this bookstore/library. What do you love most about it?
Everyone at Green County Library is SO wonderful, especially librarian Mary Stamper – she does so much there, including starting a seed library! I’ve done a couple of presentations there on our farm and recently, on writing.
You can always find great deals at Half-Price Books and I love searching the poetry sections. And every book is $1 in Rabbit Hole Books! I’ve picked up some great poetry finds there.
5. What do you have to say on the importance of sustaining bookstores and libraries?
SO IMPORTANT! Local bookstores are vital – they are hubs, community builders, safe havens, so many things. Local Libraries offer so MUCH to our community, classes, resources, films, seeds! Their value to educate (for free) is extraordinary.
6. Do you have any projects that your current and future readers can look forward to?
I do!! It’s a lifelong dream realized to be able to say the following: my debut poetry collection, American Saunter: Poems of the U.S., will be published this fall, 2024, by FlowerSong Press. My first chapbook, How to Tie Tobacco will be released on May 27th, 2025 by Wild Ink Publishing and then, my second full-length collection, Old World Wings: Poems of Europe, will be published in late fall 2025, also by Wild Ink Publishing! I am ecstatic and so grateful.
Ian Tan here, lead editor and project coordinator of UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology, set to release this October 29. Here is the UnCensored Ink interview series to introduce you all to the incredible writers, as well as the local bookstores and libraries that gave them safe, creative spaces. Hopefully, you can put these incredible places on your to-visit list and feel inspired to support your own local bookstore, library, and indie authors.
Today, I am with Erica Duarte from Tennessee. In 2001, Erica graduated from the University of Denver with a degree in Psychology. After working numerous jobs, she joined the Peace Corps, where she taught English and traveled for a time. Erica is married with two rambunctious girls. At home, she loves having lots of pets, reading lots of books, and writing lots of stories, especially those that embrace shades of gray.
1. You’ve written a fine piece for UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology. Can you give us a synopsis? How did the idea for this piece come about?
Mazi is a fictional character in a partially true story about the bible belt of middle Tennessee. The story took shape after several billboards popped up in my hometown, paid for by a local church, that said things like: “There is only he and she, no they” and “One man, one woman is holy matrimony.” I wondered of the negative impact this might have on a young person who was gay, lesbian, or bisexual? Then Tennessee passed a bill requiring schools to list all books in their library online for public inspection, and the idea came full circle. “Mazi” is the story of a young bisexual girl whose self-worth is affected by the hateful actions of a prejudiced few. Mazi must learn to navigate her community and grow into herself, but how can she do that when her state and city target books with LQBTQ storylines and billboards scream a way of life that will never be hers? In the end, I wanted to show how books (many banned) help kids like Mazi find themselves worthy to be who they are.
2. Now, we would love to know you more! What do you enjoy doing in your free time, what is your favorite book quote, and how did you get into reading and writing?
Free time . . . If I could write all day and read all night, I would. I’m obsessed. Ever since I could read, I’ve loved books. I got into writing around middle school. I wrote poetry, and it evolved from there into stories. My favorite book quote, if I had to choose, is the opening stanza of a poem by Lewis Carroll, as seen in the opening pages of Through the Looking Glass ca. 1946.
Child of the pure unclouded brow
And dreaming eyes of wonder!
Though time be fleet, and I and thou
Are half a life asunder,
Thy loving smile will surely hail
The love-gift of a fairy-tale.
3. Do you have a favorite local library or bookstore? Also, can you remember bookstores and libraries from your childhood, if they are not the same as the ones now?
I loved going to the library as a child and I take my children as often as I can.
4. Tell us more about this bookstore/library. What do you love most about it?
Things about Plenty that I love: The beautiful sign above the door. The cozy atmosphere inside. The fact that it’s downtown, next door to a patisserie and across the street from a coffee shop. The local authors they celebrate! Including me and this anthology! They’re holding an author event for me to promote this excellent work in November and I can’t wait.
5. What do you have to say on the importance of sustaining bookstores and libraries?
It is a must to sustain local libraries and bookstores. Nowhere else can a person find so many open hearts and minds, so many different worlds and ideas. In these places, there is truly something for everyone.
6. Do you have any projects your current and future readers can look forward to?
Yes, always. I’m currently working on a YA fantasy about a witch, a curse, and a shapeshifting monster. It’s a love story, of course.
7. Lastly, what platforms can we find you?
You can find me on Instagram @ericaduartewrites
Well, that’s Erica Duarte from Tennessee, everyone! Stay posted till the next one in Ohio as we enter the Midwest!
Ian Tan here, lead editor and project coordinator of UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology, set to release this October 29. Here is the UnCensored Ink interview series to introduce you all to the incredible writers, as well as the local bookstores and libraries that gave them safe creative spaces. Hopefully you can put these incredible places on your to-visit list, and feel inspired to support your own local bookstore, library and indie authors.
Today I am with Rebecca Linam from Alabama. She has also studied in Germany. Over 50 of her short stories for children, teens, and young adults have been published in magazines and literary journals.
1. You’ve written a fine piece for UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology. Can you give us a synopsis? How did the idea for this piece come about?
To sum it in one sentence, “An elderly lady returns from years in rehab to find her small village practically a ghost town, spawning memories from her oppressive childhood during World War II.” The idea came to me while visiting the abandoned village of Morschenich, Germany. The citizens were paid to relocate elsewhere for the mining of brown coal and was briefly used to house refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. It was a creepy sensation to see perfectly good houses, shops, and churches standing empty. I asked myself, “If I had come here not knowing what was wrong, what would I think?”
2. Now, we would love to know you more! What do you enjoy doing in your free time, what is your favorite book quote, and how did you get into reading and writing?
I have a ton of hobbies besides reading and writing. I like to learn foreign languages, sew costumes for the Alabama Renaissance Faire, play the harpsichord, travel through Europe, and figure skate. I even took Irish step dance once to research for a novel I was writing. I was read to as a child since before I can remember. I read a variety—children’s, YA, historical, fantasy, and out-of-print books in English, German, and Russian. Since I normally write humor, my favorite book quote is probably from Barbara K. Robinson’s The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: “The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.” It tells me I’m in for a laugh-a-minute adventure in children’s literature.
3. Do you have a favorite local library or bookstore? Also can you remember bookstores and libraries from your childhood, if they are not the same as the ones now?
My favorite bookstore is the Mayersche Buchhandlung Aachen in Aachen, Germany. It has four floors of books, a café, and a piano that guests can play. Every time I go back to visit my family, I make sure to visit it at least once. I’ve even taken some of my current students there on study abroad trips, and they fell in love with it too. The ones from my childhood were much smaller, but I remember going on field trips with my school to different math competitions, and when they dropped us off at the mall for lunch, I headed straight to the bookstores to spend my lunch money on books.
4. Tell us more about this bookstore/library. What do you love most about it?
I first ran across the Mayersche Buchhandlung bookstore when I was studying abroad at the Fachhochschule Aachen. I spent at least five days a week here combing through a variety of books not found in America. They had a large selection of foreign language books and medieval German history books, as well as the largest children’s and YA section—a whole floor—I’ve ever seen. I regularly find my favorite authors here that are not available in the U.S. The top floor opens out to a sunny green area where patrons can sit in reclining chairs and read. They regularly do book signings; I can only hope one day it’s me signing a German release of my upcoming novel. That would be a dream come true!
The one I go to the most after that would be “2nd and Charles” in Madison, Alabama. It’s a bookstore that sells new and used books. It also sells a lot of new books from publishers not in the Big 5, such as Entangled Publishing, which is one thing that catches my attention. I hope one day they’ll carry my books! It’s the kind of store where people go to hang out on the weekend and find the latest books along with the classics from back in the day.
5. What do you have to say on the importance of sustaining bookstores and libraries?
If we didn’t have libraries and bookstores, reading would be cut in half and reduced to only those who could afford to buy books online. It’s just not feasible. Most kids are exposed to reading in school—and that means we need libraries to start them reading at an early age. After all, they’ll need to do it in order to get a job one day…
6. Do you have any projects that your current and future readers can look forward to?
I’ve self-published four novels for children and young adults, and my first traditionally published novel, Lady Weatherby’s Soirée, comes out next June 2025 from Vinspire Publishing. I’m in the process of querying two others in the historical romcom and new adult romantasy genre and have plans to write several others.
7. Lastly, what platforms can we find you?
Website: www.rebeccalinam.com. Here you can find everything I’ve written from short stories to novels and even my blog, “The Writing Cat,” where I like to do author Q & A’s.
Twitter (X): @rebecca_linam. I usually post on here what I’m currently reading and do the occasional comp novel review.
Youtube: Here’s my account, but it’s mostly videos of me teaching German. Occasionally, I post a book trailer.
Goodreads: I review most everything I read on here.
Well, that’s Rebecca Linam from Alabama, everyone! Stay posted till the next one as we keep heading north, into Tennessee next.
Ian Tan here, lead editor and project coordinator of UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology, set to release this October 29. Here is the UnCensored Ink interview series to introduce you all to the incredible writers, as well as the local bookstores and libraries that gave them safe creative spaces. Hopefully you can put these incredible places on your to-visit list, and feel inspired to support your own local bookstore, library and indie authors.
Today, I am with Amy Nielsen from Florida. She spent twenty years as a youth librarian sharing her love of books with young readers. Daily immersion in story took root and she penned her YA debut, WORTH IT, behind her circulation desk. Amy is the proud parent to four humans, one pup, and has more grand pups than she can count. When she’s not reading or writing, Amy, her family, and at least two canine co-captains in mermaid life vests can be found boating the waters of Tampa Bay.
*Amy is also my co-editor, and she came up with the idea in the first place!
You’ve written a fine piece for UnCensored Ink: a banned book anthology. Can you give us a synopsis? How did the idea for this piece come about?
I wrote two pieces for UnCensored Ink: Reading with His Daughter, and The New Librarian. Reading With His Daughter was inspired by where I live, Florida. Florida has the second largest senior population and has been ground zero for book bans and conspiracy theories. While the story is about books being banned, it is also about the relationship between an adult daughter and her aging father. The New Librarian is inspired by my experience being a librarian. I also included the titles of books written by several author friends, many of whom are in this anthology.
Now, we would love to know you more! What do you enjoy doing in your free time, what is your favorite book quote, and how did you get into reading and writing?
I was a youth librarian for nearly twenty years. I’ve been around books my whole life. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family either playing board games, swimming or boating. Being in Florida means we spend a lot of time outdoors. My favorite book quote is from Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. “The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude.”
I began to start wanting to write because of the joy I saw books brought to others. It’s thrilling to know something I’ve written a reader has connected with, been entertained by or learned something. But more than anything I hope they feel something.
Do you have a favorite local library or bookstore? Also can you remember bookstores and libraries from your childhood, if they are not the same as the ones now?
My favorite bookstore is The Oxford Exchange in Tampa, Florida. I don’t remember libraries from my childhood, but I recently got to take a Bucket List trip to DC and got to tour The Library of Congress.
My two daughters and I went and it was incredible to be in the largest library in the world. One thing that really stood out to me was their support of intellectual freedom. In the gift shop, I bought a coffee mug imprinted with what looks like a circulation card. I use it as a pen holder in my office. And I’m daily inspired by the work those at the Library of Congress do to support the right to read.
At the Library of Congress
My mug from the gift shop
Tell us more about this bookstore/library. What do you love most about it?
The Oxford Exchange is a MUST destination to anyone in Tampa Bay. They have a curated collection of books, tons of signed copies and the bookstore is just gorgeous. They also have a restaurant, champagne bar, and more! They also support local literacy nonprofits.
I even got to meet and hang out with R.L. Stine there during a literary conference for Young Adults called YA By the Bay, hosted by Dominique Richardson and Sorbani Banerjee authors of the Everbeach Series. R.L. was the key note speaker and he was hilarious! But he also reminded me why writing for young adults is so important. Children learn by example. And when we write for them, we are teaching them that writing and reading have value.
R. L. Stine and I
What do you have to say on the importance of sustaining bookstores and libraries?
As a former youth librarian I saw firsthand the impact of the right books on the right readers, it’s paramount. That’s why we created this anthology to bring awareness on the importance of intellectual freedom. Everyone deserves to see themselves reflected within the pages of a story.
Do you have any projects that your current and future readers can look forward to?
Yes! Well, my young adult debut WORTH IT came out in May of 2024 and is currently available. In late August of 2024 the audio version was released. The story is about a homeless, pregnant teen who claws her way out of poverty to build a better life for her and her child. I am also working on a Romance with my daughters under the pen name, Amber Dawn Oakley. We are hoping to hit the query trenches at the end of this year. It’s been a joy writing with my adult daughters. We all three LOVE to read and this is something we’ve always wanted to do.
Lastly, what platforms can we find you? (Social media and websites are all encouraged, this is to highlight and champion you guys)
The main place to find me, read my growing collection of short stories, and read several writing resources I’ve created for authors is at my website www.amynielsenauthor.com. I’m most active on Twitter at AmyNielsen06.
And that is Amy Nielsen wrapping up the last leg of our East Coast tour in Florida, everyone! If you’re anywhere near these wonderful bookstores and libraries along the East Coast, or if you’re planning to visit anytime soon, please consider dropping in on them. We created this interview series as a little way to show our support and appreciation for them. Let’s not take them for granted.
Okay stay posted till the next one, we’re swinging over to Alabama on our way to the Midwest!
Ian Tan here, lead editor and project coordinator of UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology, set to release this October 29. Here is the UnCensored Ink interview series to introduce you all to the incredible writers, as well as the local bookstores and libraries that gave them safe creative spaces. Hopefully you can put these incredible places on your to-visit list, and feel inspired to support your own local bookstore, library and indie authors.
Today I am with S. E. Reed. She writes strange, haunting, real stories of people and places along old highways. Winner of the 2024 Florida Book Awards and the 2024 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People.Additionally, she’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and won honorable mention twice in L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest.
Her short stories have been featured by The Writer’s Workout, SEMO Press, Parhelion Lit, The Writers’ Co-op, Wild Ink Publishing, Hey Hey Books, and Tempered Rune’s Press.
1. You’ve written a fine piece for UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology. Can you give us a synopsis? How did the idea for this piece come about?
Thank you! Sure thing! So my story, Swamp Religion, is set in the Florida Everglades during the Great Depression at a religious tent revival. Christian Evangelism was rampant during the late 1920’s and 30’s, as people were desperate to find meaning and hope when they’d lost everything. I’ve always been fascinated with this time period, and thought to explore the zealous nature of it in conjunction with banning books, also exploring how time repeats itself. What was happening a hundred years ago is eerily familiar to today.
2. Now, we would love to know you more! What do you enjoy doing in your free time, what is your favorite book quote, and how did you get into reading and writing?
To be honest, I spend most of my free time reading and writing or watching interesting shows on TV. One of my guilty pleasure shows is Survivor, so I’m anxiously awaiting for the new season to start. I think my favorite book quote is from J.R.R. Tolkien, the Riddle of Strider, specifically the line, ‘not all those who wander are lost.’ I actually use that quote in my novel, My Heart is Hurting.
3. Do you have a favorite local library or bookstore? Also can you remember bookstores and libraries from your childhood, if they are not the same as the ones now?
I love all libraries and bookstores!! I search them out wherever I go. But, one of my favorite finds are books at antique stores. As a child I loved collecting vintage first edition Bobbsey Twins books by Laura Lee Hope. Interesting fact, Laura Lee Hope was a pseudonym for a group of authors that wrote the series created by Edward Stratemeyer. Stratemeyer also wrote the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew and sold over 500 million books (yes, really).
4. Tell us more about this bookstore/library. What do you love most about it?
Well, I just love all bookstores and libraries as I mentioned above. So I don’t have any one specifically to share. I’ve lived in 8 states across the U.S. and been to many, many bookstores and libraries. I will say, as a teenager, I was fortunate enough to go on a school trip to England. This was back in the late 90’s. And when I was there, I fell in love with Hatchards bookshop on Piccadilly, which is the oldest bookseller in London.
5. What do you have to say on the importance of sustaining bookstores and libraries?
I’ve always found bookstores and libraries places to spend time, not just to walk in, quickly conduct the business of finding what I want and leaving. Generally, they are warm and cozy and inviting, staffed by other bibliophiles. I’ve spent hundreds of hours in libraries. While studying at college, or using the computers, or researching history, or listening to author chats. In my opinion, the loss of physical spaces for books would be a tragedy and we should do everything in our power to maintain them.
6. Do you have any projects that your current and future readers can look forward to?
Yes, well, I have three books out now that readers can purchase. And upcoming, I have five novels set to release during ‘25 and ‘26. My books can be found anywhere books are sold online, or you can request a copy at your local library.
7. Lastly, what platforms can we find you? (Social media and websites are all encouraged, this is to highlight and champion you guys)
Well, that’s S. E. Reed, everyone! We have one last author to meet before we head out of Florida and the East Coast, and this one is responsible for coming up with the idea for the anthology, so I’m pumped! Stay tuned!
Wild Ink Publishing 