Author Kirsten Miller’s work feels more timely now than ever.
Speaking with PEOPLE at the New York Celebration of Reading on Nov. 20, Miller, who published her latest novel Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books in June, noted that the book’s subject matter is on many people’s minds right now.
“We knew book banning was happening long before it became a national topic of discussion,” Miller said. “I have good friends whose books have been banned for reasons that I, at the time, still continue to find rather ridiculous … it was just sort of a crisis that we saw unfolding in slow motion.”
Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books is a satirical novel set in a small Georgia town that follows the title character who, intent on removing books she doesn’t see fit from libraries, sets up her own library in front of her home. But then someone in town begins replacing Lula’s books with banned titles, including classics, LGBTQ+ romances and more — sliding the forbidden material into Lula’s original books’ jackets, effectively tricking people into reading banned books.
William Morrow
Miller recently spent time traveling the country, talking with librarians, teachers and booksellers, as book bans skyrocket nationwide. A recent PEN America report found that there were over 10,000 recorded instances of book bans during the 2023-2024 school year, a 200 percent surge over the previous year.
“I’m from the South, and a lot of people assume that it’s a southern problem,” Miller said. “You talk to librarians in Massachusetts or Wisconsin or even Connecticut and they will tell you that the same thing is happening in their schools and in their public libraries and even in their bookstores.”
Miller, who got her start as a children’s author, also noted how fiction can offer a way to discuss hard topics with readers.
“One of the things that I’ve been trying to do is to take up very, very serious issues, whether it’s violence against women in my first book, The Change, or whether it is book banning in Lula Dean, and really try to reel people into these very, very serious topics with humor and with an entertaining story,” the author explained.
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“Because I think, right now, people are very hesitant. They do not want to be lectured,” the author added. “They do not want to be browbeaten. And I think the effect of that is that we’ve ended up not having discussions that we really need to have.”
Miller also had some advice for those who may be looking for ways to combat book banning.
“Find a posse [and] surround yourself with people who feel the same way,” Miller advised. “One of the things that I’ve seen over and over again in the cities and towns that I visit, people that are fighting to keep books on the shelves often feel very isolated and very alone … find your people and fight for what you think is right.”
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Miller was a featured author at the New York Celebration of Reading event, hosted by the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Founded by the former first lady in 1989, the foundation aims to expand literacy services for adults and families nationwide, per their website; an issue that Miller also stands behind.
“It is something that’s having an effect on the industry,” Miller said. “It’s having an effect on teachers that we deal with and librarians that we deal with. And this is a subject that’s always been very near and dear to my heart.”
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