iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Catherynne M. Valente @catvalente.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I don’t care where you started out on the political spectrum If your kid comes out as trans & you don’t become a rainbow-clad, parade-cheering ally & rock-solid supportive girl/boy/enby dad/mom? You were never a parent at all You were a doll collector furious they didn’t stay in their packaging.

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We Need Diverse Books @weneeddiversebooks.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

It’s #BannedBooksWeek, which means it’s the perfect time to dispel common myths and misconceptions about the prevalence and impacts of book bans across the United States. Here are five common myths about book banning that everyone should know the truth about 🧵

Gold-colored graphic depicting an illustration of a group of young people lounging in a book store, sitting on the hardwood floor, and reading books together. There are illustrations of bookshelves decorated with books, knick knacks, plants, and cactuses in the background. The graphic is titled “5 Myths You Should Know About Book Banning”.

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 15h

My bag is packed for an appearance on a Banned Books Week panel at Literary Arts in Portland tomorrow, 10/6, at 6:30 pm. I'll be with @cfastwolf.bsky.social, @oneofthejohns.bsky.social, and Alicia Tate. Please join us if you're in the area! literary-arts.org/event/banned...

A photo of a tote bag that says, "READ QUEER BOOKS." Two postcards sit on top of the bag. One says, "Oppose the national book ban bills," and the other says, "Authors Against Book Bans."

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Jonathan Hill @oneofthejohns.bsky.social · 21h

This should be a great panel! Look at this wonderful panel I will be part of!

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I would have experienced far less depression as a young teen if I had access to books about bisexual people and actually understood what I was feeling. This is one of the dozens of reasons why I speak up so much about giving young people access to books and fighting book bans with all our might.

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Martha Hickson @sassylibrarian.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

If you enjoyed our little ditty, be sure to check out the list against which Henry wants FL schools to “audit” their classroom & school libraries. These are the nearly 1,300 unique titles challenged in FL during the last 4 school years. Absolutely crazy 🤪 tinyurl.com/FLUniqueTitles

tinyurl.com

FL Unique Titles Challenged 2022-2026

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Martha Hickson @sassylibrarian.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Doug and I kicked off #BannedBooksWeek by recording a new song, dedicated to Florida Freedom to Read Project, role models for resistance and persistence. This is for you, @flfreedomread.bsky.social, with admiration, respect, and love 🫡 🙌 😘

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Every example I could think of indeed frightened me, but I also loved it. The Wicked Witch of the West and her Flying Monkeys terrified me, but The Wizard of Oz was my favorite film as a child. The ghost stories I checked out from my school library gave me nightmares, but I also wanted to read more.

A scene from The Wizard of Oz in which Dorothy views Elmira Gulch transforming into the Wicked Witch of the West outside her window from within the tornado.

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Turn your shock and anger about book bans into action.

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Maggie Tokuda-Hall @maggietokudahall.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Here's the thing: most books that are banned don't make the lists that get circulated each #BannedBooksWeek. If you're a book creator and your book gets banned, please respond to this post with your book and its buy link on bookshop.org. That way we can support indies and banned books 💛

bookshop.org

Bookshop.org: Buy books online. Support local bookstores.

A better way to buy books online. Every purchase financially supports local independent bookstores.

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Martha Hickson @sassylibrarian.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

There are PLENTY to choose from. Here’s a compilation of the nearly 1,300 unique titles that have been challenged in Florida since 2022. The state’s Ed Commissioner has commanded the state’s schools to “audit” their classroom & library collections against this list. Tinyurl.com/FLuniquetitles

tinyurl.com

FL Unique Titles Challenged 2022-2026

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

For Banned Book Weeks, I challenge every single book festival and conference to include programming about the modern state of book bans. Your event is missing the books that didn't get published or promoted due to someone's fears about controversy. EVERY book event is impacted by book bans.

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

If you're featuring banned books online or in a display, PLEASE feature books by the living and breathing authors whose livelihoods are being deeply impacted by the nationwide challenges and bans. Highlighting banned classics is fine but it's not the full story. www.ala.org/bbooks/frequ...

ala.org

Most Challenged Books

Every year, the American Library Association compiles a list of the books most frequently targeted by censors based on reports from the field and media coverage.

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Happening today! Come join us if you're in the area.

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The State Library of Oregon recently published the Oregon Intellectual Freedom Clearinghouse 2026 Report, which discusses the state of book challenges and bans in Oregon from July 2025 through June 2026. www.oregon.gov/library/libr... @authorsabb.bsky.social

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

During Banned Books Week, I'll be discussing the many ways book bans affect authors and readers in Oregon and across the U.S. and what you can do to preserve the freedom to read. 10/6/26, 6:30 pm Literary Arts Bookstore Portland, OR literary-arts.org/event/banned... @authorsabb.bsky.social

literary-arts.org

Banned Books Week Discussion

Join us at The Literary Arts Bookstore for a discussion on book bans with co-leader of the Oregon chapter of Authors Against Book Bans, Cat Winters. Learn more about how

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

My new short play, "Mother's Now a Vampire," will be part of a night of staged readings at HART Theatre in Hillsboro, OR, 10/30/26, 7 pm. The play is a dark comedy of manners about a menopausal Victorian mother's startling transformation into a vampire. Tickets: hart.ludus.com/show_page.ph...

A graphic with a white background and an illustration of a black teapot leaking a red drop of blood. Text: MOTHER'S NOW A VAMPIRE by Cat Winters.

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Anyway, we are NOT throwing our trans siblings under the bus for ANY reason. NO. You can kick rocks.

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I have some exciting news about a new short play I wrote. I'll be able to share more info sometime in the next week. :)

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gamera obscura october edition @ohrobin.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

The return to physical media is a radical act. A book in your hand or a record on the turntable belong to a world beyond subscriptions, licenses, and corporate permission, and they can be lent, inherited, annotated, repaired, and loved. They remain when the platform fails and the servers die.

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I've been helping my union negotiate a new contract since April, and it's been a stressful, exhausting, eye-opening process that doesn't seem close to being over. This Labor Day, I stand with everyone who's fighting the good fight for workers' rights, and for every worker trying to make ends meet.

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Martha Hickson @sassylibrarian.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Book banners tried to have me arrested. Tried to have me fired. Tried to destroy my life. Thankfully, I didn’t run into any of them at the Emmy Awards.

Martha holding an Emmy Award for The Librarians documentary

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Victoria Strauss @victoriastrauss.com · 06/09/2026

Guidance from the @authorsguild.org on navigating the Anthropic settlement claims portal; they also offer guidance for authors of educational works, and why authors w/ rights reversions may be seeing publisher claims authorsguild.org/news/importa...

authorsguild.org

Important Information Regarding Anthropic Copyright Settlement Claim Notices

As part of the claims reconciliation process in the Anthropic copyright class action lawsuit, the settlement administrator sent out notices this week to all claimants summarizing each of their claims,...

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Victoria Strauss @victoriastrauss.com · 04/09/2026

New #WriterBeware blog post: The process of resolving disagreements between claimants in the Anthropic copyright settlement has begun, and there are...problems. A look at what's been reported to me, and advice on what to do. Whew. It's been a busy couple of days. writerbeware.blog/2026/09/04/a...

writerbeware.blog

Anthropic Copyright Settlement: Publishers Are Making Incorrect Claims on Authors' Payouts - Writer Beware

This week, many authors who are part of the Anthropic copyright class action settlement began receiving notices like this one: Upon accessing the portal (which doesn’t seem to have a formal name, so I...

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Ash Parrish, Kotaku's LeBron James @adashtra.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I wonder if enough media people respond like this we might be able to move some kinda needle somewhere

an email that reads:
I understand you are doing as your job requires, but please never
email me again about anything Harry Potter. This PR enables deadly
transphobia and I want no part of it.

Cheers
Ash

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Victoria Strauss @victoriastrauss.com · 04/09/2026

Hey Anthropic settlement authors--is there anyone out there who discovered that their agent has made a claim on their settlement payout? Contact me: beware@sfwa.org

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 03/09/2026

New Q: what do you do if your publisher claims 100% of the proceeds rather than just their 50%? First of all: yuck, gross. Second: PLEASE report this to @victoriastrauss because she is collecting data and this will help show a pattern and practice of behavior.

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 03/09/2026

Hey, so based on what other people have said, and what I have now myself experienced, it appears to me that publishers are, um, how do I say this... Not doing a good job (or possibly any job) of checking to see if rights have reverted on a work before claiming them in the settlement.

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 02/09/2026

THIS IS WHAT CLASS COUNSEL HAS TO SAY ABOUT OUR MONEY: they want to give us, (as a first payment), $2,203.56 per work between November 1 and November 15.

Class Counsel files this status report to provide an update on the distribution of settlement funds to Class Members. As detailed below, Class Members should expect distributions to start by early November, and no later than November 15, 2026. After deduction of fees, services awards, and expenses, each Work is allotted approximately $2,203.56 of funds currently in the Settlement Fund, which does not yet include Anthropic's final payment of $450 million plus interest. Class Counsel seeks to ensure this update is
available to Class Members on the Settlement Website.

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

If you're missing Dolly, look to Olivia and all the other artists and activists involved in the Daisy Chain Fields Music Festival.

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Hillary Monahan @hillarymonahan.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I feel like random acts of kindness are the best thing we can do to honor her legacy. I really do. I think she'd love that.

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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 25/08/2026

Dolly Parton helped millions of children learn how to read and saved millions of lives by funding COVID vaccine research. She improved more people’s lives than almost any political leader in office. Her impact will be felt by generations.

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 20/08/2026

HAPPY ANTHROPIC SETTLEMENT EFFECTIVE DAY FOR ALL WHO CELEBRATE!!!!!

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 19/08/2026

I am going to do a new thread because I have now read the filings from the two law firms who are appealing and I have read the underlying order of the district judge that they are appealing.

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

On Sunday I visited four of these crows along the Wildwood Follow the Crows art trail here in Portland as I walked from public transportation to work. Here's the crow at Pioneer Courthouse Square. The artist who painted it is Rae Sheridan.

A photo of a giant sculpture of a crow, painted in shades of green. It's positioned on a brick walkway with a westbound MAX station in the background at Portland's Pioneer Square.

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I love living in a city that's about to release a major stop-motion animation film based on a children's book by a local author and and a local illustrator, then invites local artists to paint giant crows based on said book to raise money for a children's hospital. ohsufoundation.org/wildwood-fol...

A green graphic that says . . .
LAIKA
WILDWOOD
FOLLOW THE CROWS

The graphic includes silhouetted images of crows and a kid with long hair riding a bicycle.

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Maureen Johnson @maureenjohnsonbooks.com · 05/08/2026

This horrific ruling in the UK went into effect today. Trans people can't use the right bathroom or be in the right hospital ward. Their bodily functions are being policed by people like JKR. Monsters. Stand with trans friends. They need all of us. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

independent.co.uk

What new single-sex space laws mean for schools, hospitals and trans people

Nearly 13,000 toilets and more than 5,000 changing rooms may need changing under the Supreme Court ruling

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Dr. Stephanie @punkrockscience.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

I just saw a meme that said “get in losers, we’re reclaiming the emdash”. People. PEOPLE. Where are your STANDARDS? It CLEARLY should be “get in, losers — we’re reclaiming the em dash.”

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Maia Kobabe @redgoldsparks.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

A trio of Senate Republicans from Indiana, Oklahoma, & Alabama have introduced S 4925 a copy of HR 7661- the exact same text, which would ban any book mentioning "gender dysphoria or transgenderism" from all public schools in the US. Please call your Senators to say NO to both bills! More info below

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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

counterpoint: the dead should make it harder for me to speak ill of them

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Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

To be a historian is to speak ill of the dead and the rest of you should take more history classes and join us.

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Thank you to everyone who's working their ass off to help the U.S. live up to its pledge of liberty and justice for all.

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Cat Winters @catwintersbooks.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Here's my memory of the US's 200th birthday: I was 4 and learned the big word "bicentennial." I got to watch a train carrying historical documents, the Freedom Train, arrive in San Juan Capistrano, CA. At the time I cared about the train, not the documents, but I remember it being festive and fun.

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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 02/07/2026

In ‘terrible but also funny’ news, the state of Florida is currently beefing with… An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha, aka the world’s largest and oldest governing body for Irish Dance because the NA championships are being held in Orlando and CLRG refuses to ban trans girls from competing as girls

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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 02/07/2026

and also here’s a petition if you want to take a moment to show CLRG that you support them on this matter www.change.org/p/support-tr...

change.org

Sign the Petition

Support Transgender Irish Dancers

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Lauren Theisen @laurentheisen.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

speaking generally, I think the no. 1 thing you can do as a cis ally is help a trans woman get a job

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Maggie Tokuda-Hall @maggietokudahall.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Today is my last day as President of Authors Against Book Bans. Feels good. To have built something. To feel good about where it's going. To feel confident stepping away from leadership bc you know it's in the right hands for the next steps. Things are bad but there are people fighting EVERYWHERE.

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