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Malinda Lo

@malindalo

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NYT bestselling author, National Book Award winner. 3/30/27: SOMETHING INSIDE ME KNOWS - A Memoir. 🏳️‍🌈 My brand is lesbians.

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🎉 I am so excited to share with you the beautiful cover for my next book, SOMETHING INSIDE ME KNOWS, which comes out March 30, 2027. The original art is by @dadushin and the cover was designed by Anna Booth. When I first saw Dadu Shin’s art I was immediately drawn to the way he has often used tiny dots to create a larger image, in which the whole is genuinely greater than the sum of its parts. I try to write this way, too: grounded in detail but ultimately telling a story larger than those specific moments. I absolutely love the cover art he has created, and I’m so honored to have his work be one of the first ways that readers encounter my memoir.

📚 If you’d like to preorder a signed/personalized copy, you can do that now from my local independent bookstore, @porter_square_books at the link in my bio.

🎧 I’m also thrilled that I’ll be narrating the audio edition for @prhaudio !

ℹ️ About the book:

National Book Award winner and New York Times bestseller Malinda Lo delivers an inspiring memoir in verse about losing her language, finding her voice, and honoring her ancestors.

In 1978 when Malinda Lo was three years old, she sat on her white American grandmother’s lap in a wheelchair as her father pushed them across the wooden bridge at the border between the People’s Republic of China and British-controlled Hong Kong. She does not remember the crossing that redefined her life; she has only been told the story.

Lo brilliantly weaves a nonlinear story of immigration and identity, connecting her childhood in small-town Colorado to her grandmother’s experiences in wartime China.

Incorporating free verse, found poetry, and lyric essay, Lo’s debut memoir excavates the tangled roots of her hybrid heritage, exposing the unspoken pain of migration and the long shadow of the American myth. 🪾

#somethinginsidemeknows #bookstagram by @malindalo

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a month ago

This week marks the 5th anniversary of the publication of my novel LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB. This is by far my most successful book, and as of this week, there are almost 500,000 copies in print worldwide! 🤯 But when I think about what this book means to me as a writer, I always return to the feeling I had when I finished the final draft in late 2019. I felt certain that I had done a good job and this was a good book. That doesn’t always happen when I finish a book! So I was very proud of the work I did, and I’m still so proud of this book, and I’m so happy and grateful that it has been read by so many people. Happy anniversary!

#lastnightatthetelegraphclub by @malindalo

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9 months ago

Earlier this week, the latest issue of my newsletter went out. If you're not a subscriber, you can read it at the link in my stories and highlights.

This week I wrote (again) about book bans, because I've been in this fight for awhile and I've reached an inflection point. I'm going to stop counting the number of cases in which my books have been challenged or banned, because that work is depressing and exhausting. But that doesn't mean I'm giving up, because I believe the fight is more important than ever.

Please subscribe to my newsletter if you aren't already a subscriber, so I can keep you updated on this issue (and on my upcoming books!). I also invite and encourage you to join the fight against book bans and for the First Amendment by following and supporting the organizations I've tagged here on instagram:

@penamerica
@freedomtoreadproject
@_everylibrary_
@flfreedomread
@txfreedomread
@freedomtoreadsc
@letutahread

AUTHORS: Please join @authorsagainstbookbans! You don't have to have had your books banned to join. We need you!

#freedomtoread #bannedbooks #authorsofinstagram #bookstagram Book bans are a First Amendment issue: They are a direct silencing of the voices of writers who have written about LGBTQ+ people, people of color, and the uncomfortable truths of racism and American history. by @malindalo

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a year ago

Since summer 2025, I've been working with Massachusetts Authors Against Book Bans and the Mass Freedom to Read coalition to advocate for the passage of An Act Regarding Free Expression, which is Massachusetts' freedom to read bill. It finally passed in August 2026. This is the story of how it happened and some of the lessons I’ve learned from my experience.

Read the entire post at my website: malindalo.com/blog (link in bio)

#bannedbooksweek #freedomtoread #firstamendment by @malindalo

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At the Save Our Stories supper earlier this week, I had the honor of speaking about my work with @massfreedomtoread and @authorsagainstbookbans over the past 15 months, as well as delivering a simple ask for everyone who is fighting book bans:

👉🏽 If you’re planning a program or reporting a story or advocating for a bill to pass, please remember: books are written by human authors. Help us to save our stories.

#bannedbooksweek #saveourstories by @malindalo

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5 days ago

This week I went to New York for the Save Our Stories Supper, where @penguinrandomhouse gathered together anti-censorship advocates to celebrate the work we’ve done to fight book bans and to re-energize us for the fight that continues. In the coming days you’ll probably see more social posts from people who were at this event, and I urge you to follow and share their posts, because one of the problems we face in this long fight is widespread lack of attention to this issue.

Although censorship has been on the rise since 2021, and even though there are national pro-book ban bills under consideration in the US Congress, it seems that book banners are just more emboldened than ever. This week @penamerica ‘s latest report revealed that almost 12,000 books were banned in public schools during the 2025-26 school year — that’s the highest number since the rise of book bans five years ago. The numbers are going up, folks.

In the face of these challenges, it was so encouraging and rewarding to connect with the people who are fighting this censorship in person, including:

Idaho librarian and plaintiff @sscheline
Florida student and plaintiff Jack Hayes
@drnovack
@halseanderson
@venkatraman.padma
@studentsengaged activist @cameronjsamuels
@elockhartbooks
@davidlevithan
@jodipicoult
@balloonbreath

Thanks to PRH for such a wonderful night! I hope we all left the event reinvigorated and recharged — I know I did.

#bannedbooks #saveourstories #bookstagram by @malindalo

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7 days ago

Went to Minneapolis for a brief weekend with friends and fit in a fantastic lunch with @andrewkarre my editor.

Stopped by @magersandquinn where they had #lastnightatthetelegraphclub in the window!

So of course I signed some copies. Hot tip: this is the UK version! That’s why the font is different and the size is slightly smaller than the US one.

Loved this Minneapolis mural. by @malindalo

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17 days ago

Today I went to the New England Independent Booksellers Association’s fall conference to talk about my memoir, SOMETHING INSIDE ME KNOWS, for the very first time in public. I was honestly so nervous to share a bit from this very personal book, but it was so wonderful to be in a room with such supportive booksellers who made me feel very comfortable and welcome. Today really brought home the fact that this book is really going to be published! I got to hold the advance copies for the very first time, even signing a whole giant pile of them for booksellers.

And of course it was great to run into familiar faces and to meet new people. I was joking to Jasmine Guillory that we only see each other in convention green rooms, and hopefully someday we will see each other outside of one! I’m looking forward to more green room conversations in the future as this book starts to make its way into the world. 🪾

#somethinginsidemeknows #bookstagram by @malindalo

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a month ago

On Monday, Aug. 10, I was honored to join legislators, librarians, advocates, and authors at the Franklin Public Library to witness @massgovernor @maura_healey sign “An Act Regarding Free Expression.” This is the bill that I've been advocating for with @massfreedomtoread and @massaabb since mid-2025. It's been a long road with a lot of bumps along the way and I'm so happy that this bill has passed, providing protections not only for librarians, readers, and parents, but also for authors. Massachusetts' bill is only the second freedom to read bill in the nation (after RI) to protect authors, the people who write the books that are banned.

Thank you to our legislators for passing this bill, including bill sponsors Sen @juliancyr Rep @johnmoranfor9 and Rep @adamscanlonstaterep, as well as Chair @garballeysean who helped get this bill across the finish line. And special thanks to Governor Healey for signing this bill! It would not have become law without her support.

This was a massive team effort and I'm especially grateful to have worked with incredibly hard-working and dedicated authors @mcusolito @danaalisonlevy and @thatniclarue as we became legislative advocates practically overnight, learning how to do this while we did it. Democracy is really freaking hard, folks, and I'm happy to hang up my temporary lobbyist hat and go back to what I do best: writing books.

Happy freedom to read and to write, Massachusetts! 🎉 📚 👏

#massfreedomtoread #masspoli On Monday, Aug. 10, I joined a crowd of legislators, librarians, advocates, and authors at the Franklin Public Library to witness Governor Maura Healey sign “An Act Regarding Free Expression.” by @malindalo

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2 months ago

➡ These slides are adapted from an essay posted on my website, malindalo.com.

🏳️‍🌈 A Pride Check-in: On Queer Books in a Time of Censorship

It’s undoubtedly true that the current crisis of censorship in the US has made publishing LGBTQ+ YA books much more difficult. But this Pride month, I want to bring in the broader historical context to give us some perspective.

To read the entire essay, go to malindalo.com/blog (link in bio). A Pride Check-in

ON QUEER BOOKS IN A TIME OF CENSORSHIP

MALINDALO.COM

@malindalo by @malindalo

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4 months ago

It’s a Pride month surprise! Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a USA Today bestseller, five and a half years after it first came out! I have no idea how this happened, but it tickles me that it has outranked eternal bestseller The Outsiders, at least for this week. My new favorite number is 138. Thank you to everyone who keeps going to the Telegraph Club! 💕👏🏽🏳️‍🌈 by @malindalo

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4 months ago

The attic is empty now … except for one thing!
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I received page proofs of my memoir, Something Inside Me Knows, which is the last book I wrote in this space. So I brought it here to visit one last time. It’s coming to you in March 2027!

Subscribe to my newsletter (link in bio) for sneak peeks at my memoir as we get closer to launch. 🪾💕

#somethinginsidemeknows by @malindalo

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5 months ago