Books Not Bans is Sending Banned Books Where They’re Needed Most

It’s been a rough week. Here’s a bright spot if you care about reading, censorship, and literacy.

Books Not Bans is a local organization making a nationwide impact. They focus on sending all sorts of books, especially queer and banned ones, to places where people don’t have access to those titles. Across the country and even in California, book banning has become the soup du jour of conservatives who seek to control access to imagining a better world.

Reading has always been the escape ticket. This author survived many a hard night in childhood thanks to friends like Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which of A Wrinkle in Time. But many of those books that feature rich, imaginative worlds where kids (who have very little power but fight back any way) are the same that end up on the banned list. 

Books Not Bans is tiny. There’s just one employee, Becka Robbins. Even still, she’s running an operation with a massive impact out of Fabulosa Books in the Castro. So far, her organization has donated over a thousand books. 

And Robbins is on the move; she’ll head to Bryan, Texas later this month. Bryan ISD, the school district, has one of the highest rates in the big state of banning and removing books. Robbins also plans to visit Birmingham, Alabama to do a book giveaway party next year.

Books Not Bans has tried a variety of fun ways to engage the community. They’ve hosted group bike rides to bookstores, reading happy hours, and more. Some of their party names and concepts are fun plays on queer topics, like “Read for Filth,” a reference to queer Black culture. 

In a time when it’s become increasingly clear that we cannot rely on government or politicians to protect our future, the work that little organizations and ordinary people are doing keeps a light of hope on in the window. Organizations in need of books can request them here. You can donate if you have the means here, and follow Books Not Bans on Instagram to see their journey.