Jay Asher, '13 Reasons Why' Author, Out of Literary Org After Allegations

Update: A spokesperson for Asher, Tamara Taylor, says reports Asher was banned from the SCBWI are "completely false."

"The SCBWI's recent statement about author Jay Asher is completely false. There was no allegation, investigation or finding of sexual harassment.

In April 2017, Mr. Asher voluntarily agreed that he would no longer attend SCBWI conferences. This was in response to hurt feelings of a group of authors with whom he had consensual relationships that ended poorly.

Mr. Asher was not banned by the SCBWI. In fact, when he let his membership in the group lapse last summer, Lin Oliver, the group's executive director, suggested that he keep his membership going. He did as requested, and Mr. Asher's membership is active today."

The original story is below.

Author Jay Asher, who wrote the novel “Thirteen Reasons Why” that was later adapted into a Netflix original series, was reportedly expelled from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators late last year after allegations that he sexually harassed women in the group. 

Executive director of the group Lin Oliver told The Associated Press Asher's membership was terminated after an investigation into anonymous email complaints about his behavior. She did not say how many complaints there were against Asher or when he had been removed specifically.

“After we investigated, we felt that terminating his membership was the proper course of action,” Oliver told BuzzFeed on Monday. 

Asher, however, told BuzzFeed he left the organization on his own and that he had been harassed by unspecified individuals there for “close to 10 years” and “could not deal with it anymore.”

Asher also claims the SCBWI told him at the time that the emails “showed nothing,” BuzzFeed reported. 

Asher’s removal had not come up publicly until Sunday when anonymous comments naming him as a sexual harasser were posted in response to an article published in the School Library Journal about sexual harassment in the children’s publishing industry, BuzzFeed reported. 

The article itself did not name Asher, Vanity Fair pointed out. No specific details about actions by Asher were given.

Children's book illustrator David Diaz resigned from SCBWI in December after harassment allegations by author Ishta Mercurio. 

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