Posted on by Saundra

I have written about my rape online more times than I can count. And I wrote about it once, in my novel All The Things We Do in the Dark.

And one thing continues to be true: people will always judge the victim, but go out of their ways to justify and mitigate the rapists’ crime.

So today, while Jane Doe goes through the gauntlet of judgment after she was raped at Cornell, today, while the man who raped hundreds of women and children on the US Olympics’ gymnastic team gets removed from the Sexual Offenders List, while a rapist sits in the White House, and his victim has still yet to be paid for the lawsuit she won against him, while IDF soldiers are praised for raping Palestinians in their custody, I have to speak again.

Something evil happened TO us. Not because of us. Not because of our clothes, or our attitude, or our race, or the three drinks we had before going to visit a friend, or the fact that we’re transgender, or that we were too scared to say no! stop!

I refuse to use the passive voice anymore. I wasn’t raped. Someone raped me. And I will keep talking about it until people are safe from sexual harm, or I die. I’m afraid I know which one will come first.

A Move to Maryland

Posted on by Saundra

Due to increasingly oppressive legislation against me as an author, and my family as human beings, I have moved from Indiana to Maryland. I will update my Appearances page as soon as possible to reflect that. While school visits fees in Indiana will remain low ($300 or less depending on region,) I will unfortunately have to charge for travel and board for events in Indiana from this point forward. I regret being unable to continue to offer low-to-no cost visits for disadvantaged students in my home state. It’s not what I would have chosen, but the Indiana State Legislature chose for me.

Challenge Statements

Posted on by Saundra

I am aware that my books, ALL OUT, OUT NOW, OUT THERE and ALL THE THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK, are currently being challenged all over the United States. For those who would like a statement from the author about these challenges, I offer one for the anthologies and one for ALL THE THINGS.

For those who would like a short, simple soundbyte, my statement is this, something I have heard author Holly Black say often:

Not every book is for every kid, but every kid deserves a book.

STATEMENT ON ALL THE THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK (PDF)

STATEMENT ON ALL OUT, OUT NOW, and OUT THERE (PDF)

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