Ashley Hope Pé\;rez's YA historical fiction novel\, \;Out of Darkness\, \;was published in 20 15 to wide acclaim\, winning several awards including the 2016 Michael L. Printz Honor for Excellence in Young Adult Literature and the 2016 Tom&aac ute\;s Rivera Mexican American Children&rsquo\;s Book Award. \;
\n< p>Out of Darkness \;is "a riveting novel about segregation\, love\, family\, and the forces that destroy people" that is set in 1937 Ea st Texas around the real-life New London School explosion - the deadliest school disaster in American history.\nIn the fall of 2021\, Ashley Hope Pé\;rez found her novel to be the target of book banning effort s in several states. \;Out of Darkness \;was banned or ch allenged in several school districts in Texas and most recently was remove d from the Washington County\, Utah school district in December.
\nA shley Hope Pé\;rez will talk about about the rise of censorship in s chools and libraries\, what it is like having her book banned\, and the im portance of creating diverse literature for young adult readers today. The discussion will be moderated by Bexley Public Library Director Ben Heckma n and will be followed by a book signing. Books will be available to purch ase through Bookspace for the book signing.
\nPresenter Bio: Ashley Hope Pé\;rez is the author of three novels: \;Out of Darknes s \;(2015)\, \;The Knife and the Butterfly \;(20 12)\, and \;What Can&rsquo\;t Wait \;(2011). \;Ou t of Darkness \;was described by \;The New York Times Book Re view \;as a &ldquo\;layered tale of color lines\, love and struggle in an East Texas oil town\,&rdquo\; and was selected as a best book of the y ear by both \;Kirkus \;and \;School Library Journal. It receiv ed a 2016 Printz Honor for Literary Excellence in Young Adult Fiction\, th e 2016 Tomá\;s Rivera Book Award\, and the 2016 Amé\;ricas Awa rd. \;What Can&rsquo\;t Wait \;and \;The Knife an d the Butterfly \;appear on YALSA&rsquo\;s Best Fiction for Young Adults and Popular Paperbacks lists. \;Out of Darkness \ ;has become a target of efforts to ban books about the experiences of BIPO C and other marginalized people and was #4 on the ALA&rsquo\;s Top Ten Mos t Challenged Books in 2021.
\nAshley is also a former high school En glish teacher\, holds a doctorate in comparative literature\, and is an as sistant professor of world literatures at The Ohio State University. Visit her online at \;www.ashleyperez .com\, \;Faceb ook\, \;Twitter\ , and \;Instagram . Read more about her response to book banning here: \;https://linktr.ee/ashleyhopeperez.
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