Tilly Fitzgerald, who runs social media account Tilly Loves Books, which boasts 90,000 followers, has been sacked by Waterstones after she criticised gender-critical author Christina Dalcher, who supports Seen Network, which “works to protect women’s right and raise concerns around the impact of gender ideology.”
Tilly Fitzgerald wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Ooh, I’ll enjoy tearing up your books and popping them in the bin today. Thanks for the heads up.”
The Waterstones employee and blogger subsequently clarified that it wasn’t her intention to have Dalcher’s books removed from shelves, but that she wouldn’t support her work, which includes the dystopian fiction novels Vox and Femlandia.
Speaking to The Independent she said she was ‘absolutely devastated’ to lose her job, adding that the sacking was ‘disproportionate’.
Hey @waterstones, you fired @TillyLovesBooks, a long time supporter of marginalised authors for standing up to someone who posts this kind of garbage. Maybe it’s time for a rethink? pic.twitter.com/TndQToMObX
— Haleh Agar (@HalehAgar) July 9, 2024
She said: ‘I’m absolutely devastated that this escalated to me losing a job a love.
‘I acknowledge that my comments were a violation of the social media policy, and I did apologise for any trouble caused, however, I think the punishment was disproportionate and a warning would have been more appropriate.’
She continued: ‘I was talking about my own personal property on my personal social media account, and I have every right to get rid of books by an author I no longer wish to support based on their behaviour.
‘I’m so grateful for all the support people in the book community have shown. The last thing I would consider myself is an activist (although I’m forever in awe of those who are brave enough to fight so relentlessly), but to me, it’s fairly simple – we just let people be who they want to be and begin with kindness.’
