K. Kerimian, who identifies as queer and non-binary, discovered a lack of dedicated queer sections in bookstores, often receiving vague responses about marginalized identities. This prompted them, during the social isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, to advocate for greater representation of queer literature. Their efforts emerged amid a troubling trend of book bans, which were at an all-time high in 2022, reflecting broader societal issues around inclusion and access to diverse narratives in literature, particularly concerning LGBTQ+ voices.
As a customer, K. Kerimian always enjoyed visiting bookstores, but when they would ask workers about the whereabouts of the queer section, they started noticing a pattern.
Those blind spots helped motivate Kerimian, a self-described "career bookseller," to take matters into their own hands in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, the American Library Association tallied 1,269 attempts to bar books or otherwise restrict them from libraries, which was nearly double the existing record that was set in 2021.
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