Velshi Banned Book Club: Five years of reading as resistance

The Velshi Banned Book Club was launched to highlight under-reported stories of book bans and challenges to titles around the country. It has become a showcase of reading as resistance, as incredible authors have shared perspectives that went where news coverage alone could not go. As “Velshi” comes to a close, Ali takes a look back at the incredible authors and banned writers who joined the Book Club on #Velshi

ms.now

‘We will not look away’: Velshi on journalism, citizenship, and his move to prime time

Bearing witness has never mattered more than it does right now. And you don't have to be a journalist to bear witness. Darnella Frazier, Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Eugene Goodman, and Febb Burn. History is filled with people who bore witness and held power to count. We will not look away. Because contrary to what the people counting on your indifference want you to believe, citizenship in a democracy is not something you are handed. It is something you do — a choice to show up and engage with your neighbors, your community, your country. And in this moment, your country needs you. The Republic is not lost. It is deeply endangered. And endangered things can be saved — but not by waiting. You have 148 days. One hundred and forty-eight days between this morning and November 3rd — Election Day — to organize, to register voters, to have the conversations that need having, to show up for democracy. See you on The 11th Hour. 

ms.now

Velshi Banned Book Club: five years of reading as resistance

In 2022, the Velshi Banned Book Club was launched to highlight under-reported stories of book bans and challenges to titles around the country. It has become a showcase of reading as resistance, as incredible authors have shared perspectives that went where news coverage alone could not go. As “Velshi” comes to a close, Ali takes a look back at five years of incredible authors and banned writers who joined the book club on “Velshi.”

ms.now

Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘The Rabbit’s Wedding’ and ‘Whistler’ with Award-winning author Ann Patchett

“Anytime you ban a book, you are on the wrong side of history, and sooner or later it will catch up with you,” said Ann Patchett, award-winning author of numerous novels, including her brand-new book,...

ms.now

Velshi Banned Book Club: Nick Cutter discusses his new novel, "The Dorians."

Nick Cutter’s brand new horror novel, fittingly called “The Dorians,” pays homage to Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and its quest for eternal youth.

msnbc.com

Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land’ by Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon

Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah and Israeli Maoz Inon have lived lives in parallel -- sharing careers in tourism, a belief in the power of storytelling, a love of their homeland along the Mediterranean Sea, and immense personal tragedy: Inon’s parents were killed on October 7th and Abu Sarah’s brother was killed by the IDF. And now they share a brand-new book: “The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land,” an examination of forgiveness, love, pain, recognition, and what it will take to actually achieve peace.

ms.now

Velshi Banned Book Club: Rutherford County Tennessee Library Alliance

The women behind the Rutherford County Library Alliance, Keri Lambert and Tatiana Silvas, embody the spirit of “reading as resistance”. Their advocacy work is the blueprint for how to defeat censorship, yes, but also how to keep democracy alive for every American.

ms.now

Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘Brother, I’m Dying’ by Edwidge Danticat

Told to us with emotional clarity, interconnected narratives, and masterful prose, Edwidge Danticat’s award-winning memoir “Brother, I’m Dying” spans decades and multiple family members. Although this is a story about the realities of the American dream, the immigrant experience, identity, family dynamics, and fate -- so much of it is about love.

msnbc.com

Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘Sold’ by Patricia McCormick 

“Sold” by Patricia McCormick tells the fictional story of Lakshmi, a 13-year-old girl sold into sexual slavery to help pay off her stepfather’s debts. Her story is told in a series of vignettes, deliberately fractured to mirror her life itself. “Sold” was a National Book Award finalist, but now it has a new distinction. It’s America’s most banned book. 

msnbc.com

Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘Martyr!’ by Kaveh Akbar 

Kaveh Akbar’s debut novel, a true cultural phenomenon, “Martyr!”, is grounded in death and mortality. “Martyr!” has taken on a new and deeply tragic sort of relevance since the U.S. and Israel launched the War with Iran in February. “Martyr!” is no longer just on ‘best seller’ and ‘must read’ lists – now, it is recommended reading for the worried American, for the person searching to understand their Iranian counterpart.

msnbc.com

Velshi Banned Book Club: The Sanctity of Culture

This week, President Trump escalated his rhetoric beyond any previously conceivable level. He said in part, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” Not a government. Not a military. A civilization. When we talk about destroying a culture, wiping away a civilization – in this case, one of the world’s oldest and most continuous civilizations – we are talking about destroying our shared humanity.

msnbc.com

Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘Boy Erased’ author Garrard Conley on SCOTUS conversion therapy ruling

This week, the Supreme Court ruled against a Colorado law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ youth. Garrard Conley’s 2016 award-winning memoir “Boy Erased” shares his experience being forced into conversion therapy. Conley says that therapists “have a duty to walk people through options for their lives, not just tell them that there’s only one option.” He adds that “it’s a dangerous idea” to say LGBTQ people are “a subject to be debated.”

msnbc.com

America’s story is written by its people

What do 18th century colonists, an eight-year-old girl with cerebral palsy, and a 15-year-old schoolgirl from Alabama have in common? Separated by centuries and circumstance, each made a choice to challenge injustice. Their stories remind us that America’s history is shaped not by grand moments alone, but by ordinary people standing up for something greater than themselves.

msnbc.com

Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘The News from Dublin’ by Colm Tóibín

Colm Tóibín’s new collection of short stories, “The News from Dublin,” includes the timely story of an undocumented Irish immigrant who leaves America, fearing President Trump’s return to office. “It’s going to be worse for you all this time,” he writes. The author’s restraint, intensity, and deliberation have earned him praise as one of Ireland’s great living writers.

msnbc.com

Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘And If I Die Before I Wake’ by George M. Johnson

Author George M. Johnson’s manifesto, “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” was the first book featured on the Velshi Banned Book Club, taking readers through the author’s childhood. Now, an upcoming memoir, "And If I Die Before I Wake," will take readers through their adulthood. “This book was about talking to all those versions again."

msnbc.com

Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘The Man in the High Castle’ by Philip K. Dick

“The Man in the High Castle” explores the sort of “what if” question that plagues the imagination of anyone who has ever thought critically about our history books, our involvement in war, our past, and what it all might mean for our present. “It allows you to think ‘what if I'm reading the present wrong? What if we did lose to fascism?’” notes author Jonathan Lethem. “I don’t think it has ever failed to be relevant.”

msnbc.com

Velshi Banned Book Club: “The Candy House” by Jennifer Egan

Technology is at the center of “The Candy House” by Jennifer Egan, but it is far from the whole story. Through a kaleidoscope of characters, literary devices, and time periods, “The Candy House” explores memory, questions of authenticity, privacy, the importance of human connection, the cost of innovation, and humanity itself.

msnbc.com

Velshi Banned Book Club: 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley’s magnum opus “Brave New World” is eerily relevant in today’s America. It explores our cultural fixation and addiction to distraction in a world of unbridled mass consumerism. Alarmingly, it depicts a world with little hope for change when there is little desire to change.

msnbc.com

When a bookshop owner turns anger into resistance

Greg Ketter, the owner of Dreamhaven Books & Comics in Minneapolis, went viral for putting words to what so many are feeling right now. He is angry. And he knows what book banning & the suppression of dissent means: “the chipping away of our freedom.” #Velshi #VelshiBannedBookClub

msnbc.com

Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘Station Eleven’ by Emily St. John Mandel

Do not mistake “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel for a survival story. At its core, “Station Eleven” is hopeful. It argues for the importance of art, literature, theater. It argues that humanity is something that must be nourished and tended to. It is the exact book everyone needs to read right now.

ms.now

Velshi Banned Book Club: “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut

Equal parts semi-autobiography, anti-war commentary, science-fiction exploration, and satire, Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five” centers on the infamous and brutal Bombing of Dresden during World War II. Vonnegut is one of those authors whose contributions to both literature and American culture are innumerable, and now his estate is at the center of a push to maintain the freedom to read. A group of best-selling authors, Utah students, the ACLU, and Kurt Vonnegut’s estate represented by his four children, are suing state officials in Utah over their book banning legislation.

msnbc.com

Velshi Banned Book Club: The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze by Derrick Barnes

The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze by Derrick Barnes follows Henson Blayze, a kind and gifted young athlete who is one of the few Black kids in a small town. When his 10-year-old neighbor is beaten nearly to death by two state troopers, Henson is forced to confront a moral crossroads—choosing between what is right and his own athletic ambition. Author Derrick Barnes challenges the belief that sports automatically bring people together, calling it “one of the fallacies of this country.” While sports can unite us, he argues, that only happens when we as a country, “address the issues that have been bogging us down.” Barnes also warns against viewing Black athletes as mere entertainment at the expense of their humanity.

ms.now

Velshi Banned Book Club: 'We Were Liars' trilogy by E. Lockhart

A cultural phenomenon, a social media favorite, and a hit TV show, "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart is officially a trilogy spanning multiple generations. Written with Lockhart's trademark twist and literary references, these books, including the newest “We Fell Apart”, are an examination of privilege, reconciliation, and identity.

msnbc.com

Velshi Banned Book Club: 'The Day the Books Disappeared' by Caroline Kusin Pritchard and Joanna Ho

“The Day the Books Disappeared” by Joanna Ho and Caroline Kusin Pritchard, was born out of the uptick in censorship and challenges to literary access happening over the past few years. Since publication, though, it has become a cultural artifact, a microcosm of American culture today, by being censored in its own right. 

ms.now

Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen

Today’s meeting of the Velshi Banned Book Club dives into Jane Austen’s masterpiece, “Pride and Prejudice,” the romance novel that has defined the genre. Author Elaine Castillo shares how Austen inspired her own work and discusses why Austen romances have had such a profound effect on readers for generations.

msnbc.com

Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is a pioneering work of both science fiction and patriarchal criticism. It’s a warning that science can go too far, an examination of maternal guilt, or a story of how monsters get created. Regardless of your reading, there are few stories, literary or otherwise, that have such ubiquitous recognition, fascination, and appeal across generations.

ms.now

Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘Breathless’ by Jennifer Niven

“Breathless” by Jennifer Niven is a reminder of exactly why young adult fiction resonates with so many readers. Through gentle and poignant storytelling, “Breathless” is an exploration of how to find yourself after experiencing your first devastating loss as a young person. In Nevin’s own words, “Breathless” is a story about choosing your voice, your future, your body, and yourself.

ms.now

Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘The Knife and the Butterfly’ by Ashley Hope Pérez

‘The Knife and the Butterfly’, by veteran member of the Velshi Banned Book Club Ashley Hope Pérez, is a salient reminder of just how much a novel can create and foster empathy. “The Knife and the Butterfly” tells the story of two teenagers, members of rival gangs, and the single act of violence that connects them forever. Pérez says, “...literature is always working to support readers in encountering and navigating the whole range of human experiences.”

msnbc.com