Lyn Fairchild Hawks

Because I’m done with bullies like Donald Trump

As a nerdy girl, I got mocked for using big words in my stories. As a tall girl, I got called “a big palooka.” It wasn’t until I became a high school teacher that I had the power to do something. When one kid tormented another kid in a wheelchair, I could stop it. When one boy mocked another for his voice cracking during class, I could intervene. But in 2016, my vote wasn’t enough to stop a man who became bully in chief.

I write about girls who fight back, ones who’ve survived sexual assault. They have to out the truth despite the terrorizing fear. They defy predators and those who try to control the narrative. Wendy and Minerva in my YA novels are gifted, wise girls who seek justice.

Now I’m writing a dystopian YA where two teen girls run a banned bookmobile undercover in a world where books are burned and girls are forced to bring all pregnancies to term. A world where a man like Trump is president, his minions faithfully executing Project 2025. I’m writing this book because I fear every day this could be our future. 

I trust Harris, who’s held sexual predators accountable and grilled Trump’s minions. Harris doesn’t play. She can see a bully coming miles away. I trust Walz, who once kept cafeterias and football teams from being mobs. They’ll find a way forward with real consequences and keep us safe.

Under Harris—a survivor of racism and a seeker and activist for economic and restorative justice—America can finally do the truth and reconciliation and maybe even reparations we need. We can come to terms with our four hundred-plus years of bullying and set the record right.

Lyn Fairchild Hawks is an author of young adult fiction.