A dialogue about the psychic, emotional, physical, and financial investment we make in literature and in the authors we admire. The panelists will speak on how their favorite authors both inspired them and let them down by violating another writer’s trust. One of the key ideas of the panel is to convey the problematic nature of “hero worship” for writers of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and by extension, to push back against tokenism. The panel will also discuss the importance of holding institutions accountable for protecting artists, and in particular, artists from vulnerable communities. The dialogue will explore what the framework of social restorative justice could look like, and existing networks of support for writers/creatives living and working within and outside of the diaspora, that have been hurt by “literary heroes.”