‘She’s 100 percent right’: Banned author visits 2 Las Vegas high schools

In the minutes after author Ellen Hopkins finished her speech at Shadow Ridge High School on Monday morning, senior Aurora Figures’ eyes welled with tears.

“That really hit home,” Figures told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Hopkins, whose books deal with abuse, sexual assault, trafficking and drug addiction, describes herself as writing honestly about real issues teenagers face.

“I hope when you read this story that you understand that these things could happen to you, and I don’t want them to happen to you,” Hopkins said.

“She’s 100 percent right,” Figures said, adding that it made her want to check in on her friend who had been struggling with housing and who she was worried about. “I really want to talk to her right now.”

But Hopkins is not always able to reach as large an audience as she would like.

In addition to being a New York Times bestselling author, she is also the most banned author in the country, according to PEN America.

Although usually an expensive speaker, Hopkins, who lived in Washoe County for 40 years before recently moving to Missouri, visited two Las Vegas high schools for free on Monday.

She spoke about book banning and read from her new book, “Sync,” which she said a lot of librarians have been afraid to pick up solely because her name is on the cover.

A political movement

Although book banning is not new, efforts have skyrocketed in recent years.

The Clark County School District has strong laws protecting its books, but that has not stopped groups from advocating for bans, including reading portions that they find particularly vulgar at school board meetings.

Moms for Liberty, which has been labeled an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, have sought to ban books they deem as “pornographic,” which typically referring to books that include LGBTQ representation.

Two former members of the local chapter — Lorena Biassotti and Lydia Dominguez — are currently running for open seats on the school board in November.

“What’s happening now is not just a parent who is concerned about my books. It is a political movement designed to cripple public schools,” said Hopkins, who has been labeled by some as “queen of pornography.”

Often, Hopkins told the crowd, people take individual quotes in her books and misconstrue them. A story about sexual assault, for instance, might get portrayed as a graphic sex scene.

“Pornography is, by definition, supposed to turn you on,” Hopkins said. “If rape turns you on, you got a problem.”

Hopkins had been invited by her friend Nicole Beer, a librarian at Martinez Elementary School, who is an outspoken opponent of book banning both online as well as board meetings. The two are both featured in the 2024 documentary “Banned Together.”

Beer said that as a victim of childhood sexual abuse herself, a book like Hopkins’ could have helped her growing up.

“I’m a living example of what your books could have done for me,” Beer said.

For many students, Hopkins does serve that role.

Arbor View High School Sophomore Kendall Wagner flipped through the pages of Hopkins’ books and said she loved Hopkins’ style of writing in verse, and was eager to start reading her books.

Several other students approached Hopkins afterward, thanking her as well.

Hopkins also talked about the many students who write to her on social media about their experiences.

“There are a lot of people who don’t understand just how complicated your lives are, and I do,” she said.

Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com.