Novels (and notebooks) for ICE Detainees
Update: Thank you to everyone who contributed! The wishlist has been largely fulfilled (yay!) and Indivisible has paused the Mother’s Day campaign to allow local volunteers to assess the continued needs at the detention center. I also want to be fully transparent about the fact that the initial title of this post suggested that it was the detainees who selected the books on the wishlist; this was a misunderstanding on my part. When I reached out to Indivisible for clarification, they shared this from the woman who organized the campaign: “I just thought of books I’ve read that I really got wrapped up in. Ones that give you that escape from your own reality. Books that offer hope at the end of course. I picked many with strong female characters, hoping that reminds the women of their own strength.” I have since changed the title of this post and apologize for my initial oversight.
Hey there, remember me? I used to blog here.
I haven’t posted anything in a long time— mainly because I’ve settled down, had a child, and have spent the past two years back in grad school, which doesn’t leave much time (or inclination) to post the intimate details of my love life to the internet— but last week, an email found its way to my inbox that I couldn’t not address.
It was from our local Indivisible chapter, on the subject of an ICE detention facility in Moshannon, PA.
Conditions are inhumane because of course they are. Three detainees have already taken their own lives. Nearly a hundred more have gone on a hunger strike in protest of contaminated food and what the ACLU and the Temple University School of Law have identified as medical neglect. Due in large part to facilities like the one in Moshannon, where the host county contracts directly with ICE to the tune of almost $3million each month, Pennsylvania is now second in the nation (coming in just behind Texas…) for the overuse of solitary confinement.
So, what to do?
One option is phonebanking. The other, which is why I’m writing this post, is an Amazon wish list created to bring a few material comforts directly to the women detained at Moshannon (coordinated by local Indivisible volunteers) in time for Mother’s Day.
Now, I hate Amazon, but I like shopping, so I said to myself, “Sure, we can afford a couple boxes of tampons.” I pulled out my laptop, thinking I might add some hand cream as well because we had just gotten our IRS refund and I was feeling generous, but the Amazon link seemed to have malfunctioned because there were no tampons. No hand cream. There were only novels.
Julia Quinn novels.
Bridgerton.
Of course.
I scrolled down, because it wasn’t just Julia Quinn novels, but Kristin Hannah too and Liz Moore and Stephen King and what I think was probably The Autobiography of Malcolm X but my Spanish has always been terrible so I’m not 100% sure if I translated the title correctly.
It was at this point that I burst into tears because the thing that I’ve gone back to school for— the thing that I have uprooted my life for— is an MFA in Creative Writing.
This means that I have spent much of the past two years discussing the merits of literary fiction, surrounded by folks who write literary fiction. I have kept my love of Kristin Hannah novels largely to myself, like it’s some dirty secret, because while there are plenty of Bridgerton fans in my cohort, most folks who get themselves into a fairly prestigious and fully-funded MFA program like mine would never deign to write— let alone read— commercial fiction.
And yet who doesn’t an occasional escape? Isn’t that all that any of us wants when we pick up a novel?
So I added two Kristin Hannah novels to my cart: El ruiseñor (The Nightingale) and Los cuatro vientos (The Four Winds) because their protagonists have always struck me as the most badass. Scrolling down, I saw that the wish list did in fact contain some more “sensible” items (toiletries, hair ties, and the sort of shower sandals that would be worn, in a better world, exclusively by college students) plus crossword puzzles, Sodoku, coloring books, journals, sketchpads, and various religious texts in various languages.
I mention this because these are the items that still need to be bought, and I am hoping that if you love reading or writing (or even just Burts Bees chapstick) as much as I do, that maybe you’ll join me in sending some love to the women detained at Moshannon.
If you do, please— as the kids say— drop a comment below because I’m really hoping to get every last book from the wish list sent in time for Mother’s Day.
-Kat
PS: The perfectionist in me didn’t want to post this because I’m like, “Girl, why are you still using WordPress? It’s 2026. The world has moved on to Substack and you are just going to embarrass yourself.” But fuck it. We’re all just playing music on the deck of The Titanic at this point and it’s not like you came here for the wallpaper.
PPS: If you’re a longtime reader of this blog, thank you so much for coming back! I appreciate you 🙂 My About Kat page has been updated for your amusement and I plan to get back to posting once a week.
PPPS: If you can’t stomach lining the coffers of Jeff Bezos, I totally get that. Juntos is a great local immigrants rights org to support with a donation.
Kat Echevarría Richter 
9 Responses to “Novels (and notebooks) for ICE Detainees”
Hey Kat,
Just curious, but where the women who are detained asking for Julia Quinn novels? Or are the volunteers suggesting them? And thank you for writing this!
-Emily
This is a great question, that I was curious about too (especially because I generally try to steer clear of well-intentioned but potentially tone-deaf white lady-initiated campaigns) but the original email said, “Please don’t choose different products, as the ones on the list have been checked and confirmed to be acceptable.” So my understanding is yes, these are the novels that have actually been requested.
Oh my goodness, welcome back Kat! So nice to see you return to blogging. I can’t remember when I first started reading your posts but it was a long time ago, possibly when I was still at university.
I’m not sure if I can donate from the UK but will certainly have a look. Those poor women. We are all horrified by what is happening in the US.
Hello Grace! Thanks so much for reading– I always appreciated your comments back in the day and was just reading an old post of yours on the concept of “reputation” in Jane Austen’s day, which is something I’ve been writing about for my thesis! And yes… I am horrified by what is happening in this country too. Every time I reconnect with a friend from the UK, I feel like I need to begin the conversation with a very long apology on behalf of my countrymen…
Gosh that one was a long time ago – I just looked and I was a fresh-faced 21-year-old when I wrote that. Back in the heyday of WordPress.
All the best with your thesis! Is it about Jane Austen specifically?
Haha, gotta love those WordPress heyday posts 🙂 My thesis is not so much *about* Jane Austen (that would require way too many lit theory courses and the one I took this semester almost killed me…) as it is *inspired by* 😇
Hello Kat, Just to make sure this old man understands, if I buy from that Amazon list link the article will get delivered directly to CE detention facility in Moshannon?
Yahoo Mail: Search, Organize, Conquer
Hello Bruno, if you use the link, the items will go directly to the volunteer (from Indivisible) who lives nears the center and who is coordinating this effort. They will be dropping off the items at the detention center in time for Mother’s Day. (The volunteer’s address will not be displayed when you place the order to maintain their privacy, but you’ll see their name pop up when you place the order.) Thank you!!