CURRENT POSITION Editor, Book Riot DEGREE MS Information Science, University of Texas–Austin, 2008 FAST FACT While concerned it might be divisive, Jensen shared that her favorite candy is black licorice. FOLLOW X: @veronikellymars; kellybjensen.com; literaryactivism.substack.com Photo by Andrea Sowers

Writing for the Right To Read

In 2021, Kelly Jensen, an editor for the all-things-books site Book Riot, approached her boss about doing a weekly roundup of stories on proposed book bans. Her boss’s response: Would there be enough to write about weekly? Unfortunately, the answer has been yes.

Jensen, a librarian by trade, worked in a public library for several years before joining the Book Riot team in 2013, where she developed her passion about the right to read and access to books. Book bans weren’t as prevalent then, but their relevance has grown as school and public libraries have experienced an onslaught of challenges since 2020. When Jensen received a tip a few years ago about something called Book Looks, an innocuous-sounding title that turned out to be a book-banning tool used at school and library board meetings, she decided to investigate. What she found was a resource with ties to Moms for Liberty. Her initial report didn’t attract much attention but was later picked up by other journalists, helping to amplify the story about the organized groups behind many book challenges.

Jensen continues to track book bans and censorship and works to publicize her findings. She understands how important that work is to those who want to protect the right to read. “There are so many other things I’d like to be writing about,” she says. “But reading these [stories] every week has given me a lot of perspective about what’s happening, looking at trends and trying to figure out where these are starting and how they’re being so carefully coordinated across the country.”