The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books will be held at USC on April 22-23.

Over 500 writers, musicians and artists will appear for the literary celebration. Among them will be former Georgia state representative, voting rights activist, lawyer and author Stacey Abrams. She joined Lisa McRee on “LA Times Today” to talk about her newest children’s book.

"Stacey's Remarkable Books" follows a young girl who reads at recess and eventually forms a book club at her school. The book was inspired by Abrams' own love of reading and writing from a young age. 

"I learned to read when I was very young, around 3 or 4," she said. "I think I started making up stories soon thereafter, and I learned to write them down when I was certainly in first or second grade. I attempted my first novel when I was 12."

Abrams' mother was a reference librarian at a college and her father was an avid storyteller.  Books have long been a vital part of life for Abrams. She talked about the dangers of banning books in schools. 

"When we believe that the only way to grow our next generation is to deny them access to information, we are we are heading in the wrong direction," she said. "Certainly, books should be age appropriate, but they should never be tools for ideology in the sense that you only get to learn what we want you to know."

Beyond children's books, Abrams has also written political thrillers. She spoke about the possibility of returning to politics. 

"Politics is always a part of how I think about the world, but it's not my focus at this moment," she said. "No one's entitled to win an election, but we are required to do the work of making life better for others, whether it's writing books for kids or doing my political thrillers, or writing my books about democracy. As long as I'm engaged in trying to make the conversation stronger and shaping how we think about the world, then I'm doing my part."

Click the arrow above to watch the full interview.

Watch "LA Times Today" at 7 and 10 p.m. Monday through Friday on Spectrum News 1 and the Spectrum News app.