A few weeks ago, I attended another book event at The Strand. This time, it was for the first ever book event for “Chaos Theory” by Nic Stone, a YA novel about mental health and romance. This was my first introduction to the work of Nic Stone and I am sold. Nic Stone, one of the most banned authors in America spoke beautifully about censorship, representation, and content warnings, all while remaining upbeat and funny throughout the night. She wore an amazing skirt, green lipstick, phenomenal hoop earrings, and a t-shirt that said “we need more thinkers” (hard agree). Her conversation with E. Lockhart felt more like a conversation between friends that we were all lucky enough to witness than it did a regular book event. She was even kind enough to answer my question about content warnings with a great answer.
When I said to her, “I see that you open your story with a content warning. Content warnings and trigger warnings are relatively new in media. I was wondering what you thought that this shift signified in the industry and what this says about authorial intent.” she paused before jokingly saying, “Why’d you have to ask me a hard question?” followed by a response about how she felt that content warnings are important and that she cares more about protecting people than she does about spoiling her piece. As far as authorial responsibility goes, she believes that authors have a responsibility to research a topic as best they can before writing a narrative that could potentially cause harm, but that, at the same time, authors can write about whatever they want.
When speaking about the recent scourge of book banning that has hit school districts and libraries across the United States and the personal bannings that she has experienced herself, she stated that it is not a point of pride for her, that it is a point of great concern. It is infuriating and enraging, as it should be to all of us.
Nic Stone is a fellow writer from Georgia, (we love to see it) who wrote the bestseller “Dear Martin.” I can’t wait to read my signed copy of “Chaos Theory” and I think that others out there should do the same.
The Tragic Queen,
Raquel
The Tragic Queen 