On a comfortably mild and breezy Monday night in early fall, within steps of Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., Penguin Random House transformed a rooftop overlooking the nation’s capital into a rally for the freedom to read.
Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.
The Save Our Stories Supper, held at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library to mark Banned Books Week, brought together authors, educators, and advocates as the publisher launched its third annual Banned Wagon Tour, a campaign through Washington and Philadelphia that distributes banned books and mobilizes readers to defend access to them.
Attendees received free books from the Save Our Stories book ban van.Courtesy Penguin Random House
Guests began with an outdoor rooftop reception featuring an open bar and passed hors d’oeuvres before sitting down to a dinner of steak, salmon, plantains, rice and beans, and a fiesta salad starter, followed by dessert pastries. The convivial setting contrasted with the urgency of the evening’s message: that censorship is spreading and that the right to read is under attack.
“This is a critical moment for our industry,” Penguin Random House CEO Nihar Malaviya said in a press release, “when defending the First Amendment and the freedom to read has never been more urgent.”
That urgency is grounded in numbers. PEN America documented nearly 7,000 book bans in the 2024–2025 school year, with titles featuring LGBTQ+ characters and authors of color among the most frequently targeted. The publisher, recently named to Time’s list of the world’s most influential companies, has helped draft Freedom to Read legislation in more than two dozen states and won a major federal case overturning Florida’s recent book-ban law.
Skip Dye, chair of Penguin Random House’sIntellectual Freedom Taskforce, welcomes attendees to the Save Our Stories Supper.Courtesy Penguin Random House
Among the evening’s most moving speakers was Mychal Threets, PBS’s resident librarian and the new host of Reading Rainbow. Known for his joyful, affirming social media posts about libraries and mental health, Threets was generous with his time, posing for selfies, chatting with guests, and reflecting on taking over the role once held by LeVar Burton, whom he praised for inspiring a generation of readers.
Related: Kamala Harris defends LGBTQ+ teachers & condemns book bans at teacher labor union conference
“Banning books is banning stories. Banning stories is banning existence. Banning existence is banning hope,” Threets told the crowd. “No voice should ever be silenced. No voice should ever be made to feel invisible. Together, we have the joy of uplifting stories.”
Jason Reynolds, the acclaimed novelist and former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, added, “Sometimes reading the books that everyone is afraid of gives us permission to write the thing that we are afraid of.”
For Trevor Baldwin, the straight nephew of literary gay civil rights icon James Baldwin, the evening’s themes were deeply personal. In an interview with The Advocate, he said that his uncle’s legacy of honesty and defiance remains a guiding post.
(from left) Trevor Baldwin and Mark VonnegutCourtesy Penguin Random House
“He made the choice early on to let you know who he was,” Baldwin said. “The question is, Would a publisher today have the courage to publish Giovanni’s Room in 2025? That’s the irony of it.”
Baldwin said his uncle’s work transcended labels. “Giovanni’s Room didn’t turn me gay,” he said. “I can read it as literature. Something might turn someone off, but that’s not a reason to erase it.”
Related: There have already been 4,000 instances of book banning in America this school year: report
Authors throughout the night framed the defense of books as a moral and civic imperative.
“Banned books save lives,” said Mark Vonnegut, son of writer Kurt Vonnegut. “If there is something worth banning, it might be worth reading.”
“To ban books is to ban revolutions — societal and internal,” said Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist. “To defend banned books is to defend the revolutions that make us human.”
Save Our Stories Supper attendees enjoy drinks and finger foods atop the Martin Luther Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C.Courtesy Penguin Random House
“In small, rural communities, when a child is LGBTQ or BIPOC, oftentimes there is no community,” said Sherry Scheline, director of the Donnelly Public Library in Idaho. “What they have is the stories that we give them. When we save those stories, we are saving those lives.”
Malinda Lo, author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, noted that bans carry real economic and personal costs. “Getting your books banned does not lead to the bestseller list,” she said. “When our books are banned, our First Amendment rights are violated, and our voices are directly silenced.”
As the evening wound down, David Levithan, a founding member of Authors Against Book Bans, urged vigilance. “We know the tidal wave is coming,” he said. “When the resistance comes, you have to keep pushing anyway.”
Charlie Kirk DID say stoning gay people was the 'perfect law' — and these other heinous quotes