Tasslyn Magnusson, a Researcher and Advocate on PEN America’s Freedom to Read Team, to be Honored for Her Role in Documenting Book Bans
By Suzanne Trimel
Nearly four years ago, Tasslyn Magnusson was reading a post on then-Twitter by one of her favorite authors, novelist Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak, Chains), about book bans in public school libraries. Magnusson, a Ph.D in American history, did some quick research of her own to find out if book bans were happening more widely. She was stunned to see that they were.
“I wanted to help, so I made a spreadsheet and started looking for articles and information,” said Magnusson, who quickly caught the eye of PEN America’s Jonathan Friedman, who himself was monitoring mounting evidence of book bans in public schools.
Friedman, now Sy Syms managing director of U.S. Free Expression Programs, reached out to ask Magnusson to work with PEN America to document the rise in school library and classroom censorship.
Over the years that followed, to respond to this growing censorship— from a few hundred bans initially to “an avalanche,” as Magnusson describes it—PEN America created the Freedom to Read program and added three more staff, now under the leadership of Kasey Meehan, who previously worked for an education research nonprofit. At the same time, PEN America established a Freedom to Learn team that tracks educational censorship imposed through state laws and policies; together with book bans, this amounts to what the organization calls the “Ed Scare,” a movement to ignite false moral panic about public education, propelled by censorship unseen since 1950s McCarthyism and the Red Scare.
PEN America would become the major national resource for documented school book bans and advocacy to stop them. Through numerous reports counting book bans, an Index of Banned Books (a database that reports bans state by state and school district by school district), and statements and analysis, PEN America became a central tool for authors, readers, students, parents, activists, government leaders, educators and journalists. Since 2021, PEN America has counted nearly 16,000 bans nationwide, spurred by the movement of conservative activists and organizations that has spread into nearly every state.
This spring, Magnusson’s early involvement and ongoing work in documenting book bans will be recognized by the Children’s Book Council and its charitable arm, Every Child a Reader, which will honor her with its first-ever Free Speech Award.
Friedman said of Magnusson: “Tasslyn is an unmatched fighter for the right to read who has taught hundreds of people about the power and importance of access to diverse literature for young people, and inspired them to join our cause. The authors, readers, educators and parents she has lifted up are far too numerous to count. It’s an honor to work with her on one of the most pressing social issues of our time.”
We create a world that is better when young people can explore literature that speaks to them authentically and meets them where they are at—not where adults imagine they should be.
Magnusson, who worked for a decade as a nonprofit fundraiser, lives outside Minneapolis/Saint Paul with her husband and two grown children and teaches writing at The Loft Literary Center in the twin cities; she is a poet whose chapbook “defining” was published in 2019 by dancing girl press and her poems have appeared in journals including Rogue Agent Journal, Room Magazine, The Mom Egg Review, and others. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in poetry in 2018 and 2020. In addition to her Ph.D from Case Western Reserve University, she also earned a master’s degree in writing for children and young adults from Hamline University.
Her lifelong love of reading, books and writing was the spark that ignited her work to document book bans though she never imagined she would land a research position of this kind.
“Professionally not in a million years is this what I expected to be doing or intended to be doing,” said Magnusson. “I was working on my poetry and teaching. Book bans kind of ate my life.”
But her work with PEN America seems the perfect match against the backdrop of her life passions. She said: “I love authors. I love stories. I love children’s literature. And storytelling is so important to kids and who they are. This is why I do it—for the authors and the children. The stories we tell ourselves are about who we are. Children deserve to find out who all of us are and how we think and live.”
Magnusson points to some of her favorite children’s authors, among them Kyle Lukoff (Too Bright to See) and Nikki Grimes (Garvey’s Choice, Barack Obama, Son of Promise, Child of Hope), both of whom have had works banned, to illustrate her own admiration for writers of diverse backgrounds. They are among the hundreds of authors who write about LGBTQ+ topics, along with race and racism who have been the predominant targets for book bans— along with others who lift up diverse subjects.
While Magnusson is thrilled to be honored by the Children’s Book Council, she is quick to acknowledge her colleagues, along with parents, journalists, teachers and librarians, who have stood up against the censorship.
“We create a world that is better when young people can explore literature that speaks to them authentically and meets them where they are at—not where adults imagine they should be,” she said.
The CBC will honor Magnusson in a virtual ceremony this spring and co-sponsors of the award—Publisher Spotlight, the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, and the Bessie A. and Harold M. Stratton Fund—will help to raise funds for 250 new children’s books, which will be donated to libraries and charities of Magnusson’s choice.
