Kyle Lukoff: A WORLD WORTH SAVING

This event is part of Banned Books Week 2025 and presented in partnership with Beyond the Page.

Covid lockdown is over, but A’s world feels smaller than ever. Coming out as trans didn’t exactly go well, and most days, he barely leaves his bedroom, let alone the house. But the low point of A’s life isn’t online school, missing his bar mitzvah, or the fact that his parents monitor his phone like hawks—it’s the weekly Save Our Sons and Daughters meetings his parents all but drag him to.

At SOSAD, A and his friends Sal and Yarrow sit by while their parents deadname them and wring their hands over a nonexistent “transgender craze.” After all, sitting in suffocating silence has to be better than getting sent away for “advanced treatment,” never to be heard from again.

When Yarrow vanishes after a particularly confrontational meeting, A discovers that SOSAD doesn’t just feel soul-sucking…it’s run by an actual demon who feeds off the pain and misery of kids like him. And it’s not just SOSAD—the entire world is beset by demons dining on what seems like an endless buffet of pain and bigotry.

But how is one trans kid who hasn’t even chosen a name supposed to save his friend, let alone the world? And is a world that seems hellbent on rejecting him even worth saving at all?

https://www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/events/world-worth-saving

You may also like the following events from Wisconsin Book Festival:

• This Thursday, 2nd October, 12:00 am, Xicana Voices: A Valuable Part of the American Literary Landscape in Madison, Wisconsin
• This month, 23rd October, 05:30 pm, Wisconsin Book Festival Fall Celebration in Madison

Also check out other Meetups in Madison, Kids events & activities in Madison.