Book Bans
The Issue
Today, books in the US are under profound attack. They are disappearing from library shelves, being challenged in droves, being decreed off limits by school boards, legislators, and prison authorities. And everywhere, it is the books that have long fought for a place on the shelf that are being targeted. Books by authors of color, by LGBTQ+ authors, by women. Books about racism, sexuality, gender, history. PEN America pushes back against the banning of books and the intolerance, exclusion, and censorship which undergirds it.
PEN America tracks book bans in libraries and classrooms across America in our Index of School Book Bans, updated weekly.
What is a book ban? And other frequently asked questions.
Book bans in public schools have recurred throughout American history, with notable flare-ups in the McCarthy era and the early 1980s. But, while long present, the scope of such censorship has expanded drastically and in unprecedented fashion since the beginning of the 2021–22 school year.
This FAQ answers some of the most common questions about Book Bans in America, today and throughout American history.
Report A Book Ban
Research and Reports
Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools (September 2022)
Banned in the USA: Rising School Book Bans Threaten Free Expression and Students’ First Amendment Rights (April 2022)
Missing from the Shelf: Book Challenges and Lack of Diversity in Children’s Literature
Literature Locked Up: How Prison Book Restriction Policies Constitute the Nation’s Largest Book Ban
From PEN America
Banned in the USA Q&A: Kyle Lukoff on the ‘desperate importance’ of fighting book bans
September 21, 2022Banned in the USA Q&A: Ashley Hope Pérez on how book bans are failing our children
September 20, 2022Banned in the USA Q&A: Kalynn Bayron calls challenges ‘clearly homophobic’
September 19, 2022News Clips
Fox: Keller ISD to remove controversial books, including the Bible, from library shelves for review
NBC: A Florida school district added a parental 'advisory notice' to over 100 books
Washington Post: More books are banned than ever before, as Congress takes on the issue
PBS NewsHour: Nationwide effort to ban books challenges freedom of speech
The New York Times: Book Ban Efforts Spread Across the U.S.
Vox: How the new banned books panic fits into America’s history of school censorship
PEN America is hard at work fighting the the educational gag orders, book bans, and “transparency” bills that threaten free expression and academic freedom in the classroom. Sign up to receive email updates about PEN America’s vital work on these issues, including reports, legislative roundups, media coverage, and advocacy alerts.
From the Archives
An Evening of Forbidden Books, 1982
American Right to Read Colloquium, 1983
