PEN America teamed up with critically acclaimed singer-songwriter and global pop icon P!nk to give away 2,000 banned books at her concerts in Florida last fall to draw attention to the book banning crisis across the country.

According to PEN America’s latest report, Banned in the USA: Narrating the Crisis, book bans are a nationwide issue. Over the last two and half academic years, PEN America has recorded banning activity in 42 states, across red and blue districts.. 

The report highlights how the bans are speeding up. There were over 4,000 instances of book bans in the first half of this school year—more than all of last school year as a whole. This is a marked increase in comparison to the last spring semester, in which PEN America recorded 1,841 book bans.

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Get P!nk’s “I read banned books” sweater or wear original designs by banned authors to show your support for the freedom to read.

 

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