book bans

Education

Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward to speak at Wake Forest University Dec. 5

7:00am December 05, 2024

MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient and two-time National Book Award-winner Jesmyn Ward will be speaking at Wake Forest University tonight. The conversation is part of the university’s Face to Face Speaker Forum.

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A San Francisco store is shipping LGBTQ+ books to places where they are banned

2:29am June 30, 2024

by The Associated Press

In what she calls "Books Not Bans," Becka Robbins sends titles to groups that want them in the face of a movement by conservative advocacy groups and lawmakers to ban them from schools and libraries.

The truth and lies behind one of the most banned books in America

3:01am June 26, 2024

Author Mike Curato wrote Flamer as a way to help young queer kids, like he once was, better understand and accept themselves. It was met with immediate praise and accolades — until it wasn't. When the book got caught up in a wave of Texas-based book bans, suddenly the narrative changed. And like so many books that address queer identity, Flamer quickly became a flashpoint in a long, messy culture war that tried to distort the nature of the book.

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Cumulative book bans in the United States, July 1, 2021 - December 31, 2023. See the full PEN America report here.

Books
Arts

Report: Last year ended with a surge in book bans

3:32pm April 16, 2024

by Elizabeth Blair

According to PEN America, 4,349 books were banned from schools between July and December 2023, more than the entire previous school year. More than 3,000 of those bans were in Florida.

The American Library Association report released Thursday found that nearly half of the books challenged last year deal with LGBTQ themes or with race or racism, much like in years past.

American Library Association report says book challenges soared in 2023

6:25pm March 14, 2024

by Tovia Smith

Overall, the number of individual titles challenged in both school and public libraries spiked by 65% — the highest level ever recorded by the ALA.

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Parents Against Bad Books co-founder Carolyn Harrison (center) talks with people last month outside the public library in Idaho Falls, Idaho, about what she considers obscene books on the shelves.

In the battle over books, who gets to decide what's age-appropriate at libraries?

5:00am November 28, 2023

by Tovia Smith

There are efforts to change how decisions are made about which books libraries should stock and which section they belong in. Some advocate using a national rating system like the one used for movies.

Scholastic says it will stop offering the controversial collection of race- and gender-related titles at middle school book fairs starting in January.

Scholastic backtracks, saying it will stop separating diverse books for fairs in 2024

11:34am October 25, 2023

by Rachel Treisman

Scholastic faced backlash for putting books dealing with race, gender and sexuality in their own optional category for middle school book fairs. It's now apologizing and working to reverse course.

A Scholastic Book Fair banner pictured outside a school in Queens, New York.

U.S. book bans are taking a toll on a beloved tradition: Scholastic Book Fairs

1:03pm October 17, 2023

by Rachel Treisman

Scholastic created a separate fair category for diverse books, which it says is to help schools navigate the complexities of book bans. Librarians accused the company of caving to censorship.

A PEN America report found that the number of books permanently removed from U.S. school libraries and classrooms has quadrupled — to 1,263 books in the last school year from 333 the year before.

School book bans show no signs of slowing, new PEN America report finds

9:31am September 21, 2023

by Tovia Smith

The number of bans and restrictions in the U.S. rose 33% in the last school year, according the the report. Florida had more bans than any other state.

Books sit on shelves in an elementary school library in suburban Atlanta on Aug. 18.

There have been attempts to censor more than 1,900 library book titles so far in 2023

5:11pm September 20, 2023

by Ayana Archie

Most of the scrutinized books were written by or contained subject matter about people of color or members of the LGBTQ+ community, according to research by the American Library Association.