'Book banning is a very real thing' - Kiwi writer Graci Kim talks to Guyon Espiner about getting cancelled

For the full, uncut conversation with Graci Kim, watch 30 with Guyon Espiner. Subscribe to the podcast feed now to get every episode of 30 on your phone when it lands on Spotify, iHeartRadio and Apple podcasts.

When Graci Kim found out her US school tour was being quietly dropped, the reason given wasn’t her book Dreamslinger.

It was her name.

“They told me their kids love my books, but because I have a Korean name and write about Korean culture, hosting me could be seen as controversial.”

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The decision left her reeling. Not just as an author, but as a mother, a Korean-New Zealander, and a former diplomat used to navigating cultural complexities.

Sitting down with Guyon Espiner on the latest episode of 30, Kim is thoughtful, but clear-eyed about the larger wave of censorship in America. 

Even seemingly benign titles like Freckleface Strawberry, Julianne Moore’s picture book about embracing freckles, have faced scrutiny. 

“Book banning is a very real thing,” Kim says.

“It may only be apparent to the communities promoting books, but it is real.”

Despite her books growing success, she felt the sting of rejection from institutions trying to steer clear of controversy.

“They were so apologetic,” she says.

“More than anything I just felt sadness for the teachers trying to navigate this, and for the kids who just want to read a good book.”

Her emotional response was complicated.

“It brought back those feelings from childhood, feeling not Kiwi enough, not worthy. But I’ve got my Korean resilience and Kiwi optimism. In the bigger picture this is just a blip. I’m not going to stop writing.”

Kim’s latest book Dreamslinger is climbing bestseller lists, hailed by Publishers Weekly for weaving “serious emotional themes of discrimination, segregation, and acceptance” into a wildly imaginative fantasy.

It’s about Aria, a 14-year-old girl who physically enters her dreams, uncovering hidden powers and deep personal truths.

But for Kim, the magic began with something much closer to home: her daughter.

“I remember when she became a toddler she just had these big emotions,” Kim tells Espiner.

“I thought, imagine if a subsection of humanity was born with such strong emotions they could actually manifest as powers, like ice or fire. How would they be treated by society?”

This seed of an idea became the foundation of Dreamslinger, a book series Kim describes as “X-Men meets Pokémon set in a Korean magic school.”

Beneath the fiction lies a resonant message: being different isn’t a detriment, it can be a source of power.

That perspective wasn’t always easy to have. Kim almost wrote under a European pen name, after receiving advice from publishers that her Korean background might limit her appeal as an author in a Western market. 

Kim created a new name: Graci Goldheart. A nod to her Korean surname Kim, which means ‘gold’, and to her husband, pairing the translation with “heart” in tribute.

Social media handles were created, a website built. But at the last minute she overheard her father explaining the pseudonym to a friend, and everything changed.

“He said, 'it’s because Korean names just aren’t as respected. But that’s okay, because my daughter, she knows what she’s doing',” Kim explains.

“It was at that moment I realised I wasn’t just hiding my name. I was hiding his too.”

Kim immediately abandoned her pseudonym.

“Come what may, I decided to use my real name. And not just for me, but for everyone who carries it.”

Reflecting on her decision not to hide her background, Kim recalls a moment from her youth, trying to resolve her parents’ arguments.

“I quickly found there’s not always a right and wrong. Everyone has their own baggage, their own lens. Especially in a world of competing absolutes, we need to find our true north. That’s what I want to show in my books - that choice matters.”

It’s not just children Kim believes need to hear that message. A recent online post encouraging adults to read middle-grade books, “because there’s a child in all of us that never goes away”, led to backlash, even death threats.

“I was stunned,” she says.

“But I think I hit a nerve. Maybe people are insecure about what they read, or how little they read. But I don’t see that as a bad thing if it gets us talking about the power of books.

"I never had books like Dreamslinger when I was a kid,” she says, smiling.

“So when I hear a young reader say it changed them or that they loved it? That’s music to my ears.”

Watch the full interview with Graci Kim on 30 With Guyon Espiner.