Author Jodi Picoult, a founding member of the Everytown Authors Council.
Everytown for Gun Safety announced this month the launch of its “Authors Council,” a group of more than 130 authors, illustrators, editors and agents who have signed on to push an anti-gun agenda.
“One of the loveliest perks of being an author is knowing that you have an audience of readers who actually want to hear what you have to say, and who trust you to take them on a journey – no matter where it might be – to learn, inspire and feel deeply,” said Jodi Picoult, a founding member of the Everytown Authors Council, in press release.
“It is because of this that authors are singularly suited to speak out on the need for common-sense gun laws, and to tell the stories of those who have been devastated by gun violence in this country,” she continued. “Our job as writers is to get people to engage and to start talking – and this is a conversation we as a nation badly need to have.”
The Authors Council first order of business will take place at the end of the month when it will begin encouraging members and their followers to “#WearOrange” for National Gun Violence Awareness Day on June 2.
Those who wear orange will be entered into a drawing for an autographed book.
“Great writing has the power to move and inspire – and it’s inspiring, too, to hear such a celebrated group of storytellers lending their voices to the growing chorus for gun safety,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety.
“The talent and reach of this Council will get even more Americans thinking, talking, and taking action, all toward our shared goal – saving lives from gun violence,” added Feinblatt.
Everytown, which is bankrolled by billionaire media magnate Michael Bloomberg, seems to be making real strides in its attempt to recruit power brokers from all corners of the cultural milieu.
You’ll recall that a few years ago it launched the “Creative Council,” a group packed with Hollywood A-listers, e.g. Jennifer Aniston, JJ Abrams, Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges.
While the effect of recruiting all these cultural influencers remains to be seen, it’s tough to tell how much they move the needle on the legislative front, if at all, one can’t see how it is a good thing for the health and well-being the 2A long term. To that end, the nation’s gun lobby issued the following piece of advice:
“One would hope that shameless shilling on behalf of a statist billionaire would be derided in any artistic community. Unfortunately, many in America’s ‘creative’ class appear all too willing to use their ‘art’ in service of Bloomberg’s vanity project,” said the NRA-ILA.
“As such, the gun-owning public should do their best to apprise the general public of the gun control movement’s propaganda techniques, and consider their own consumption of media accordingly,” it continued.
What a list of “influential” authors. I recognized 2 names, but haven’t read any of their works. NRA / Pro-Second Amendment types apparently aren’t their “target audience”. ( pardon the pun ) I don’t see myself reading any works by any author in this organization.
Make that only two authors I’ve ever heard of on the Everytown.org Authors’ Council – the Tony Abbott I was thinking I heard of isn’t the one on this list, but the one who used to be Prime Minister of Australia. My bad. The guy on this list writes children’s books I never heard of, even after helping bring two sons up (and we were a literate bunch).
The encouraging thing about this list is that it’s almost bare of notable authors (I’ve only heard of three of them, and only read one – Erica Jong’s sexual potboiler Fear of Flying never tempted me, back in the 1970s when it was a best-seller.
Most of these people wouldn’t meet the notability requirements for having an article about them in Wikipedia.
So, basically, this is Michael Bloomberg’s Book Club. And virtually nobody else reads them.
From the “Everytown.org Authors Council” list, I recognized a grand total of THREE authors, Tony Abbott, Erica Jong and Kathy Reichs. The other authors are virtual non-entities, at least to me, and I actually do read for entertainment.
I’ve heard of but never read Abbott and Jong, and stopped reading Kathy Reichs when her books became much less about forensic police procedure and much more about her character’s fraught personal life. I don’t even watch her idiotic television show “Bones” (which is amazingly free of actual facts pertaining to forensic science). Now, if you want a pro-gunner who’s actually still good at writing forensic procedural novels (she gets the science right), Patricia Cornwell is who you want to read. Just sayin’
Phew. I was afraid I’d actually have to boycott someone whose work I liked for a minute there.
If you really want to end gun violence the real answer is get rid of groups of blacks and hispanics. Adding up all violent crime in NYC from NYCPD internet site keeping all violent crimes separated by race the statistic you get is this, IN NYC BETWEEN 87% & 94% OF ALL VIOLENT CRIMES ARE COMMITTED BY BLACKS AND OR HISPANICS. Anything else need be said. Think about cities like Chicago, Detroit and similar populated cities a normal weekend is a dozen shootings with 3 o 4 deaths ALL BLACK ON BLACK CRIMES.
https://everytown.org/creative-council/
I would love to have a list of the names of all 130 authors so I can make sure I never buy any of their books. I’d like to start a boycott. The boycott has been very effective on Target. Out of all of the big stores Target is the only one who took a loss this last Christmas. It’s the only way to legally hurt the people who want to destroy our constitutional rights.
That would be great just remember when you get that list made up make sure you publish it EVERYWHERE, no sense in all of us working up the same list?
This is the official list of the Everytown.org Authors’ Council./
Please circulate it, and tell your friends these people want to take your civil right to keep and bear arms away – so they don’t deserve the business of those of us who prefer to exercise all of our civil rights..
I don’t ordinarily think boycotts help, but in this case, the people involved are abusing their civil right to speak freely in an attempt to take our civil rights away. Boycotting them can’t hurt a thing.
One more time, somehow I screwed up my HTML:
This is the official list of the Everytown.org Authors’ Council.
Please circulate it, and tell your friends these people want to take your civil right to keep and bear arms away – so they don’t deserve the business of those of us who prefer to exercise all of our civil rights..
I don’t ordinarily think boycotts help, but in this case, the people involved are abusing their civil right to speak freely in an attempt to take our civil rights away. Boycotting them can’t hurt a thing.
130 charade persons so call authors. I nevermind I don’t found anything about their work.
I have been reading constantly since I was in 5th grade, I am now a month away from my 63 rd birthday. I have never even heard of most of these so called authors. I have a BSEd, and 31 years teaching experience. I have also started 2 books, & had some of my curriculum published. Does that make me a writer? I should start a book called, “My favorite AR15, or why I like Glocks”. I can’t even believe these creative kooks. I guess my favorite authors all write about using guns, or guns are in the book. I read a wide variety of books. This would include the Bible, & a complete set of World Book encyclopedias when I was a kid. These people are not able to grasp what the Constitution means. Without it, the First amendment would be useless. They would howl then.
Thanks,
Mark
What a bunch of clowns….using the O my god,fear the law abiding citizens and their guns.How much god damn gun control do you fucking assholes need? Look at Cali now…it’s a socialist shithole where gas is still almost $4 dollars a gallon…where as in myliberal shithole of Portland it’s $2.55 this week.I wish the founders would have written the sentence he refers to(A well regulated militia) better so there is no room for liberal unamericans able to interpret that how they see fit.God I hate these people..we had a parade canceled here because the liberal anarchist sent a letter to the organizers saying they would attack the republican party marchers who have been in the parade for the past 60 yrs and our city’s major didn”t do shit!! It’s like living in hell here..homeless everywhere..steal everything that is not nailed down…garbage everywhere..cars on blocks,tires first thing to go..
over the course of a week the car is stripped down to just a shell..oh yeah…sanctuary city’s are awesome if you don’t have to live in one.people who visit Portland say they won’t be back because there are homeless people literally everywhere down town and they are very aggressive when they pan handle.enough said.
I haven’t read any books by any of these authors and I’ve only heard the names of two of them anyway. I doubt that any of them have ever fired a weapon in their entire life and know absolutely NOTHING about them, as usual for bleeding heart liberals and Democrats.
I was sorry to see Brad Meltzer on the list – I will not be buying any more of his books and have saved the author list to refer to when making purchases. I read about 175-200 books per year and refuse to buy books by authors who advocate taking my rights from me.
Good for you…it’s nice to see someone who does their home work. I thought I was an avid reader..wholly molly.
Good for you, Dan. I went through that list, and while my wife and I are both avid readers (and I have written professionally in the past), Kathy Reichs is the only author whose books have ever entered our household in our thirty-nine year-long marriage. And we literally have owned tons of books in that time. The thought of moving my household again induces back spasms.
Unfortunately for Kathy Reichs, never again reading her’ books or watching the television show based on them, “Bones” is something I’ve already done, because she failed to live up to her early promise as a forensic procedural author many years ago, and the screenwriters on her show are scientifically clueless.
So a boycott of 130 authors belonging to Michael Bloomberg’s cult movement “Everytown.org” who are campaigning against my civil rights is something I’ve already done for other motives.
I will not be buying any books by these idiots. Bloomburg should be doing time over sending his investigators to VA to make illegal firearm purchases. You do not hear the left bitching about white privilege with this rich white liberal.
Does anyone else think that the co-founder of this organization looks eerily like Debbie Wasserman-Schultz? Enough said.
Good to know who these people are so I can boycott all there books.
130 monuments to stupidity. They should read about the modern history of countries like Cambodia to see what happens to an unprotected populace when the total control people take over.
Will they also be writing about the murder and mayhem that was avoided because a good guy with a gun intervened? I doubt it.
Which book ?
Mein Kampf
Communist Manifesto
It is folks like these and the Democratic party that are advocating the over throw of a duly elected government.
Geez! When will artists, creators, celebrities, actors, authors and corporations learn that by taken an anti-gun approach, they lose a significant segment of a potential consumer base? Apparently never! I tell my clients to just not go there…it will cost you and you won’t move the social meter. What I know from working with artists is that they all think their voice is louder than what it actually is and that they are devinely ordained to be here and predestined for greatness! Blah, blah!
How about naming these authors so I can be sure not to by any of their books?
Tony Abbott
Diana Abu Jaber
Sarah Albee
William Alexander
Elana K. Arnold
Lee Bacon
Julianna Baggott
Hannah Rodgers Barnaby
Kelly Barnhill
Sean Beaudoin
Samantha Berger
Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
Chris Bohjalian
Heather Bouwman
Jennifer Finney Boylan
Amy Brill
Kim Brown Seely
Martha Brockenbrough
Alison Buckholtz
Jen Calonita
Janet Carey
Caroline Carlson
Soman Chainani
Justina Chen
Deborah Copaken
Kathryn Craft
Mike Curato
Tara Dairman
Sarah Darer
Kimberly Derting
Christa Desir
Sarah Dessen
Margaret Dilloway
Erin Dionne
Jason Carter Eaton
Elizabeth Eulberg
Abby Fabiaschi
Tim Federle
Gayle Forman
Janet Fox
Michael Frank
Stephanie Gangi
Liz Garton Scanlon
Lisa Genova
David MacInnis Gill
Jennifer Gilmore
Dean Gloster
Tessa Gratton
Lev Grossman
Laurie Halse Anderson
Jimin Han
Cathi Hanauer
Corey Ann Haydu
Christopher Healy
Julie Hedlund
Alice Hoffman
K.A. Holt
Mark Holtzen
Justina Ireland
A.J. Jacobs
Brenda Janowitz
Maureen Johnson
Varian Johnson
Erica Jong
Cynthia Kaplan
Amber Keyser
A.S. King
Julie Klam
Jesse Klausmeier
Jo Knowles
Kirby Larson
Emmy Laybourne
Caroline Leavitt
Stacey Lee
Cynthia Leititch Smith
Alexander London
David Lubar
Meredith Maran
John Bemelmans Marciano
Wednesday Martin
Katherine Marsh
Joyce Maynard
Sarah McCoy
Terra Elan McVoy
Jilian Medoff
Brad Meltzer
Kate Messner
Kate Chell Milford
Aimee Molloy
Annabel Monaghan
Anne Nesbet
Judith Newman
Sara Nickerson
Lin Oliver
Susan Orlean
Micol Ostow
Lisa Papademetriou
Natalie C. Parker
Jodi Picoult
Amy Poeppel
Amy Reed
Jenn Reese
Brendan Reichs
Kathy Reichs
Sarah Robbins
Roxana Robinson
Geoff Rodkey
Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovich
Laura Ruby
Jeanne Ryan
Jo Salas
Dianne Salerni
Susie Orman Schnall
Heidi Schulz
John Searles
Rori Shay
Courtney Sheinmel
Laurel Snyder
Jenny Staff Johnson
Nancy Turner Steveson
Sarah-Jane Stratford
Lisa Schroeder
J. Courtney Sullivan
Natalia Sylvester
Jaime Temairik
Laurie Thompson
Kim Turrisi
Anne Ursu
Audrey Glassman Vernick
Wendy Wahman
Lee Wind
Meg Wolitzer
Kat Yeh
Thank for the list – it has been saved for future reference. I never heard of any of them anyway so I must be reading the right authors.
Exactly. Tagging their names to a cause in the desperate hope someone will read their trash.
Wonder how many use weapons in their novels?
but, …er, um, that’s different. (Oh pick whatever hypocritical sentence that may come to mind).
Kathy Reichs has guns, poisons, airliner crashes, just about every cause of death you can imagine in her novels. If she didn’t, her readership would be limited to other forensic anthropologists (and they could all meet in the back room of a Shoney’s).
Of course, while exploiting the horror, the horror of the events she’s well paid to describe to us, Dr. Reichs is careful to give us a free lecture in every novel on how if we all agree to have our civil rights curtailed, the gang members, assorted crooks and psychotics who do the murdering will… actually, Dr. Reichs never explains how those folks will stop killing if the rest of us turn our guns in to be smelted down into busts of Hillary Clinton.
In gun-controlled western Europe, ISIS and their supporters have shown how to do mass murder much more efficiently than with guns – use a big truck. You can rent one here for a $200 deposit.
I read 300+ books a year and have never heard of any of these authors.
So their message is to just focus on the violence that ensues from the abuse of just one inanimate object. The other inanimate objects that people use to inflict damage on others are to be ignored. Their concept therefore is just brainless.
A fit of boredom lead me to google some of these writers because initially, I only recognized a couple of names. Granted I only made it through M, but most are children’s and/or young adult authors, keep that in mind when buying books for your children or grandchildren. Some are also professors at those bastions of liberalism: colleges, while others are self proclaimed feminists. Only one has had any lasting commercial success, and who I have now taken off my reading list, while a few may be willing to join anything if it means getting their names noticed. There were a couple I could only shake my head at: the one who supports rape victims, aka women who by and large arm themselves after the fact, the military wife, the descendant of an indigenous group that would have fared much better had they not been out gunned… By and large however, this group is made up of individuals who, after some modest success, have come to believe that the American public cares what they think. Like the Hollywood denizens before them, I pay these people to entertain, not proselytize; I’ll form my own opinion, thank you very much and it won’t be based on the lies Everytown tells.
What about gun safety and gun use education? What about the recent NRA stats that show in spite of the doubling of concealed carrying people, the murder and violent crime dropped? And while am not sure any studies directly correlate the 2, one can say that the crime did not go up (as I’d guess many on this list would believe and/or say).
Authors have always taken artistic liberties with their work, if not total fiction. These idiots are pissing in the wind. Just like visual media they won’t take “criminal gun violence” out of their projects. Do they intend to disarm their projects heros, add firearm suicides or have little timmy accidently shoot Lassy to try and make a point. Be it fabrication of facts or pure fiction, it won’t make any difference in the real world. Its just a avenue for these authors to get two more seconds of fame to stroke their own egos.
The members of the Everytown.org Authors’ Council are the Left talking to the Left. Only two of them are notable to me.
Erica Jong obtained that notoriety by writing a best-selling sex novel 44 years ago, when the New York Times Book Review still thought that was cool. I never read it, and in all that time I only noticed her name when she was leaping on one political bandwagon or another, usually just before another book tour.
Kathy Reichs’ forensic anthropology/police procedural novels may have the occasional racy passage, but in her case, the sex doesn’t liven the novel up – most readers scan ahead to the “good parts” where forensic anthropology and police procedure are described. Lately, Reichs’ writing has fallen into a soporific rut, so she’s decided to branch out into preaching to her readers. Now she thinks that taking guns away from those who don’t murder with them will end murder, and is telling us so (without explaining how that will work, when criminals usually are already breaking the law just by owning guns).
The rest of these people are a mutual admiration society. It might be exaggeration to suggest they’re all hoping to sell more books by pulling an Erica Jong and stepping fearlessly into leftist politics, but generally a cause is furthered when authors with name recognition jump onboard.
After the Sandy Hook massacre, Stephen King sold an essay to his think-alikes touting gun control for $0.99 per download on amazon.com. King’s actually the smart guy in that lobby – “doing well while doing good”. The man could sell his grocery list for ninety-nine cents a download and make a few million dollars for himself and Jeff Bezos.