“Disaster doesn’t sort us out by preferences; it drags us into emergencies that require we act, and act altruistically, bravely, and with initiative in order to survive or save the neighbors, no matter how we vote or what we do for a living.” — Rebecca Solnit, A Paradise Built in Hell
Since January 7, 2025, at least 30 wildfires have ripped through the Los Angeles Metro area. The devastation is vast and incomprehensible, as is the incredible response and reaction from the community and beyond. Despite this being an ongoing situation, the largest media outlets have already dropped the story entirely in favor of nonstop coverage of the horrors being unleashed by the dictator-in-chief.
There are no mincing words: climate change bears significant responsibility for the fires and subsequent destruction. It is not the first major series of wildfires in California even in the last decade, nor will it be the last we see of such wildfires impacting life in the state and beyond. While it is important to understand what happened, this is not the space to do so, and often, those answers are cold comfort. They point to the same things we all know: how we live our lives right now is unsustainable, and these actions have grave consequences.
We also simply don’t know what we should know yet. As of writing, not all of the fires have been contained.
What you’ll find here is part reading guide—as Jamie Loftus discusses on the “The L.A. Fires: Who’s Being Forgotten” episode of Sixteenth Minute of Fame, there are a lot of stories that people don’t know or aren’t hearing when it comes to the fires. The episode is required listening. It is grounded in the ideas shared in Solnit’s A Paradise Built in Hell, particularly that at the end of the day when things turn to hell, most people’s helping instinct kicks into overdrive. Loftus interviews a variety of voices who share everything from how these fires impact those experiencing homelessness and the reality that now so many more people count themselves among that population; a local nonprofit’s work in putting people who want to help to work while supporting their core mission of helping the city’s most vulnerable people; and where and how public libraries are community beacons during emergencies like this, featuring none other than Mychal Threets. His message is a reminder of why libraries need champions and why it is crucial to be those champions, especially when such institutions are under attack.
This is also part survey of what has and has not survived the fires, based on reports coming out of the area. And, of course, in the spirit of literary activism, this is part compilation of the fundraisers related to the literary world, including places where you can donate money or bid on an array of donated goods to help the people of L.A. get back on their feet.
Required Reading
Who Fights the Fires
Over 1,000 of those on the front lines battling the fires are people experiencing incarceration. These individuals sign up for the role through the Conservation (Fire) Camps Program and are paid, on average, $10 daily. They also receive a two-for-one benefit, meaning that their sentences are shortened by two days for each day they work.
The program operates from 35 low-security prisons statewide, and it includes two all-women camps. It used to be that incarcerated individuals who fought fires while serving time were unable to become actual professional firefighters once released, but thanks to advocacy and awareness, that restriction was overturned in 2020. Of course, that doesn’t mean individuals have an easy time getting jobs once released—indeed, the barriers are high.
A couple of excellent pieces about California’s use of incarcerated individuals for firefighters include this (paywalled) piece from Rolling Stone and Teen Vogue’s story about the last wildfire fighting camp for incarcerated teens in the state.
Highlighting the efforts of individuals experiencing incarceration when it comes to the fires is crucial. As mentioned earlier, despite no longer being restricted from pursuing firefighting as a career, there are myriad barriers and challenges making that future viable. It’s also a reality that these people are not having their intellectual needs met while behind bars. California limits the materials available to those in prisons, often via arbitrary decisions made in those institutional mailrooms.
Historically Black Communities
The Los Angeles metro area is not all rich celebrities—even if it were, those celebrities employ people whose lives look entirely different from those of their bosses. It has been too easy on social media to either highlight the losses sustained by celebrities in the fires or, worse, to cheer them on. While there have certainly been substantial losses felt by wealthy and well-known people, they are far from the only victims of the fire.
Altadena, California, a rare enclave of Black middle-class people, has been especially hard hit.
While Altadena was historically a white community, the coalescing factors of increased civil rights, outlawing of the practice of redlining, and white flight contributed to growing Black communities in the city. While only 8% of Los Angeles County is Black, 21% of those impacted by the Eaton Fire are Black—and that’s thanks to Altadena’s position as one of the few communities where middle-class Black families had the opportunity to thrive in the area. Read more about Altadena’s historically Black population and communities, as well as the impact of the fires on these people, in this New York Times piece, this ABC7 story, and this story from Capital B.
Literary Loses and Survivors
Things, of course, can be replaced. People cannot. As of writing, the death toll of the wildfires is around 30 people. We will know more about those losses in the coming weeks and learn harrowing stories of people who made impossible choices, who were given no choices, and whose lives are all worth pausing and reflecting upon.
Even though things can be replaced, there is no question that the loss of cultural institutions and significant places of historical value is also worthy of mourning and remembrance.
Tucked in the Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum in Altadena is the grave of Black literary icon Octavia E. Butler—the same Octavia E. Butler whose transformative work Parable of the Sower warns of the incoming horrors of climate change. According to reports on the ground, her grave is unharmed.
The Zane Grey Estate, located in Altadena, was lost to the fire. Grey was a prolific writer in the Western genre, and his home was built to be the first fireproof home. Also destroyed was the Andrew McNally House, the former residence of the cofounder of publisher Rand McNally and prolific mapmaker.
Los Angeles Public Library’s Palisades Branch Library has been lost in the fire. In a post on the branch’s Instagram account, the library shares some historical moments and photos showcasing its connection to the community. An LAPL Palisades Branch Recovery Fund has been set up to help with a variety of needs in the area, including emergency relief, free tech access, and additional outreach services. As tempting as it might be—especially given how hopeless we might all feel at this moment—donating books is not the answer. There is nowhere for those books to go, and library workers are the experts on what materials are needed in the community. To help with the loss of this library, it is monetary donations that are needed. Again: listen to the above-linked Loftus podcast episode to better understand why giving a physical donation at this time is actually more work than help, no matter how well-intentioned (just the comments on the Palisades Branch Library Instagram post about this fundraiser are exhausting). Money is freedom right now.
Altadena’s public library and its Bob Lucas branch library are safe. Both are fully intact, though they will be closed to the public through the end of January. It is quite likely that while the facilities themselves are in good shape, those who work in these institutions may be grappling with unimaginable loss to their own homes.
The Melville Press, which produces fine-illustrated limited editions, is run by Catherine Kanner. Kanner lost her home and most of her inventory. Many of the books put out by The Melville Press are related to voyaging, and books by the press can be found in institutions worldwide. There’s currently a GoFundMe set up for Kanner to help with costs related to losing her home, as well as to help restart the publication of The Melville Press’s latest title, Emily Dickinson Poems of Travel.
Fine Books & Collections highlights several other literary archives and historic works lost to the fires. Also lost to the fire were the Theosophical Society building and archives, which included a library of over 40,000 titles. The personal library of author Gary Indiana was also lost to the fire.
As of writing, no bookstores have been lost to wildfires. But even if bookstores themselves have escaped destruction, many of those who work as booksellers have experienced unspeakable personal loss of their own homes. Tom Rodger, owner of Pasadena’s Book Alley, is one such bookseller who lost everything to the Eaton Fire. There is a GoFundMe set up to help him recover.
Resources To Know & Where To Give Some Dollars
This is far, far from comprehensive. Its focus is on resources, organizations, and fundraisers with a connection to the literary world in some capacity. You can and should dive into this mutual aid-developed guide to volunteer opportunities across Los Angeles if you’re local and have the capacity to help out.
The Los Angeles Public Library has set up a donation site to help support staff members dealing with the loss of their homes. This is different from the above-linked fundraiser related to the loss of the Pacific Palisades branch library. You can find out about the staff-focused fundraiser and contribute here. Los Angeles Public Libraries also have N95 masks available at all of their branches while supplies last (note that this announcement of masks was made over a week ago, so call to confirm supplies before showing up). Patrons impacted by the fires will also not be responsible for overdue fines for items they may have borrowed.
Donations toward the Book Industry Charitable Fund (BINC), a nonprofit that helps booksellers in need, will be matched up to $55,000. Those funds will help both bookstore and comic shop employees affected by the wildfires.
Octavia’s Bookshelf, a Pasadena independent bookstore focused on BIPOC voices and stories, has become an even bigger community hub in the days following the wildfires. While Octavia’s Bookshelf initially collected and distributed supplies, they’ve shifted their focus to helping raise funds for people in need in their community, including the store owner’s neighbors. You can support the shop’s efforts by purchasing items through their bookshop.org store here, as well as contributing donations of cash or, if local, water. Libro.fm highlighted several other independent bookstores in the area who are involved in supporting their communities and seeking help/donations. Again: confirm with the bookstores their current needs, as Libro.fm’s post was created over a week ago.
Children’s Book World, an independent children’s bookstore in Los Angeles, is encouraging people interested in helping get books into the hands of children impacted by the fires to purchase a gift card that the store’s booksellers will use to do just that.
There’s also a robust mutual aid guide to local bookstores in the Los Angeles area. It includes bookstore locations, current status, and whether or not they are taking online orders. If you’re in the market for some book purchases, consider making them through these L.A.-based stores. If you are local and looking for opportunities to volunteer your time or energy, that guide provides ideas as well.
Author Veronica Bane has collected thousands of new and like-new books for children from birth to 18 in response to the fires, and she will be opening the collection up for children to take over the next two days, with more free book fair dates to come. If you’re reading this January 24 or Saturday, January 25, you can pop over to Black Cat Fables in Monrovia to “shop” the books. Bane has a form set up that can be used by educators and/or parents looking to rebuild their book collections.
Kid Lit for Los Angeles launched on Monday this week and runs through Sunday, January 26, at 9 p.m. Pacific Time. You can bid on a host of items from children’s literature authors and enthusiasts, and all proceeds will be donated to help with wildfire relief in Los Angeles. You can follow along and bid on your favorite items via the 32 Auctions site.
Authors for L.A. will also host an auction, which launches on February 11. All funds raised through the author-centered auction will be donated to the American Red Cross. You can check out some of the items that will be open for bidding, as well as register for the auction when it opens, over on their GiveButter site.
One more auction you can take part in? Romance for Los Angeles. Check out the items available and get your bids in between now and February 2. Proceeds will go to the California Community Foundation.
Reading Rhythms is also spearheading a book donation program for those who lost books in the fire. This is a personalized-request style drive, where folks can request specific titles and have those specific titles donated to them. Keep an eye on this space to help donate materials and if you are among those looking to rebuild a collection lost in the fires, you can request materials here.
If you’re reading this on January 24, you can take part in a virtual L.A. fire benefit reading that will help raise funds for underserved Black communities hurt by the disaster. Tickets begin at $5, and the show begins at 4 p.m. Pacific Time. Among the authors in the show are Mira Jacob, Eve L. Ewing, Isaac Fitzgerald, Sloane Crosley, and more.
Book Censorship News: January 24, 2025
- Las Cruces Public Schools (NM) heard complaints from the local far right contingent over 95 books in the district.
- The Community Library Network board in Kootenai, Idaho, is creating an adults-only room, has pulled 140 books from shelves, and wants to ban entire swaths of topics from future purchases for those under 18. Who is this public library for? The answer is the library board who believes they know better than parents and say as much.
- Continuing in Idaho, the public library board in Eagle decided to remove a community bulletin board because of a flier that caused controversy in Nampa, Idaho. Yes, a bigot who complained about an LGBTQ+ event flier—for an event not sponsored by the library—managed to get a community bulletin board removed from a completely different public library over their complaint.
- That same library in Eagle had drama over some library board appointments at the latest meeting, too.
- Cobb County School District (GA) just banned two more books from the district: Triangles by Ellen Hopkins and A Stolen Life by Jaycee Lee Dugard.
- Legislators in Connecticut are proposing protections for library workers related to book censorship and were subsequently attacked by LibsofTikTok.
- “Senate Bill 19 from McCurtain Republican Warren Hamilton requires school districts to submit a list of library books available to students to the Oklahoma State Department of Education. It also bars schools from making, “pornographic materials or sexualized content accessible to students under the age of 18.” Districts that violate the law could have their accreditation downgraded to deficient and lose 5% of their state funding.” Some new damaging bills are being proposed in Oklahoma this legislative session. The one about no pornography in schools is a great one, given that there is no such thing as pornography in schools, no matter how much you claim there is.
- The right-wing packed Keller Independent School District (TX) school board wants to split their district into two. You know what they want to do? Make sure poor kids and kids of color don’t intermingle with their wealthy white kids.
- Little Miami School Board (OH) will not be imposing strict display rules in the schools. This is good, albeit bizarre, news, as now book displays can be whatever the creator wants them to be in the district (among other “displays,” of course).
- Though the Bible has not been banned in Canyons Independent School District (TX), the debate over its legality under the Texas Reader Act, HB 900, still remains.
- Librarians testified in South Dakota about how the governor’s proposed gutting of the State Library budget would harm public libraries statewide, especially in rural areas.
- Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation has been removed from the Darien Public Schools (CT) 4th grade curriculum. Note that the book will still be available in school libraries.
- The Gardner Edgerton School District (KS) school board voted to remove the book Lily & Duncan from shelves last month, and at this week’s meeting, the board heard from community members.
- A new defendant is joining the case in New York where Moms For Liberty has sued the Savannah-Clyde School District for not removing books they and their pastor friend deem “inappropriate.” That defendant? The New York State United Teachers.
- (Paywalled) Despite a petition signed by hundreds of bigots, the Middlebury Public Library (IN) will not remove books that some people think are inappropriate. This has been a fight going on for months in Elkhart.
- Utah students cannot have copies of books banned statewide on them when they go to school. That means personal copies or copies from public libraries.
- Manatee County Library (FL) is going to try to reconvene their library advisory board. The history of this one is bananas and I suspect that things aren’t going to be better with the new board.
- The writing of this piece is certainly interesting, given that library boards are nonpartisan. But here’s a story about how an appointment to fill a vacant board seat at the Mississippi Valley Library District (IL) could amplify “culture wars” (a misnomer for bigotry at the hands of a small group of far-right folks). Note that whatever happens in this seat doesn’t really matter since three seats are on the ballot for April.
- An Indiana republican wants to revoke the rights for libraries in the state to levy taxes for their institutions. He claims it’ll work well, but what he means by that is it will defund public libraries.
- More of this, please! The Teton County Library (WY) declared itself a book sanctuary and added a declaration of democracy into its policies.
- At some point, I want to write more about this story since it’s been included in these roundups now for almost a year, but the Supreme Court will be hearing a book censorship-related case this session, and it will have tremendous impact on book banning nationwide.
- A resident of Ferry County, Washington, believes that all children in her county are heterosexual, and thus, flags on display in the library constitute grooming. She is, of course, performing complaints about it.
- “Woods said the bill could undermine the autonomy of school boards and librarians, whom he said were the best positioned to made those decisions about educational materials.” This is about another proposed bill in Oklahoma requiring school districts in the state to submit annual lists of all the books in the schools because Daddy Government knows what’s best for the kids.
- Addison Central School District (VT) is still trying to decide what to do over books featuring transgender characters that two whole parents are complaining about. This bit, though: “There is a conspiracy theory that is currently floating around out there, that schools are administering hormone injections for students that are unsafe,” Orchez stated. “We don’t have enough nursing resources to hand out aspirin. We’re not changing people’s genders.”
- Seaside School Board (OR) heard complaints over the use of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian in one of their high school classes. You may recall Seaside, Oregon, dealt with complaints at the public library last year, thanks to the conspiratorial thinking of one of the community’s city councilmen. What happens in the public libraries moves to the schools if it’s not the other way around first.
- 11th grader Elise Duckworth has garnered almost 2,000 signatures in an online petition to push back against the controversial, demeaning policies that the Pine-Richland school district (PA) wants to implement regarding books in the schools.
- How Tennessee made it harder for those experiencing incarceration to access books.