For authors and readers alike, the literary climate in 2023 is a minefield. There seems to be an odd resurgence of censorship and puritanism. Free expression is under threat in multiple ways. Far-right activists are pushing for book bans on LGBT+ content and books by marginalised authors in the US and now in Australia. Commercial publishers are sanitising classics by Dahl and Blyton for maximum profit. Goodreads and Booktok culture demands any book deemed problematic gets edited, or pulped altogether. It's a weird time to be an author. Award-winning West Australian author Holden Sheppard will explore the flashpoints of the 2023 literary ecosystem through the prism of his books and works, which have been caught up in some of these controversies. What, if any, are the limits to free speech and free artistic expression? What makes a book “bad”? And who gets to decide?