Queer author devastated after school removes book

A woman who dreamed of writing a book said she was left with a "pit in her stomach" when she found out it had been taken off shelves in a school library.

Erin Ekins, 34, from Basildon, Essex, said she wrote Queerly Autistic in 2021 which explores identity as a queer autistic teenager.

Lowry Academy, Salford, Greater Manchester, removed the book from its shelves alongside George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

The school said it had not "banned" any books but had carried out an "audit" after "concerns that a number of books within the library were neither age nor content appropriate".

"Following this, books have been placed into age-appropriate categories and returned to the shelves," it said in a statement.

"A very small number of books were deemed inappropriate even for older children due to their content and have been removed," it added.

Ekins, who is queer and autistic, said she was excited about the release of her second book in March but days later she heard her first book had been removed from the school in Salford.

Index on Censorship, an organisation campaigning for freedom of expression, emailed Ekins to inform her about what it described as "a shocking investigation" into the school.

The author said her book was an aid to open up the conversation around gender, sexuality, relationships and exploring identity as a queer autistic teenager.

Ekins said: "It was quite devastating to get an email like that.

"It was gutting."

Ekins said the book explores themes such as sex and consent and it is a book that she would have wanted when she was a teenager.

"Writing a book was always a dream of mine."

Despite finding out her book has been taken off bookshelves, she added: "I still stand by the book."

In a statement put out after finding out her book was removed, Ekins said: "Education on sex and sexuality is not a bad thing. It's knowledge, and knowledge is power.

"Many autistic young people, autistic adults, parents and carers, and professionals, have reached out to me over the years about how vital a resource it has been."

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