PEN AMERICA NEEDS YOUR HELP.

#FREETHEBOOKS

In classrooms and libraries across the country, the freedom to read is under assault by restrictions and bans on books. PEN America has documented nearly 6,000 instances of individual books being banned since the fall of 2021 in our book ban research series Banned in the USA. In the 2022-2023 school year alone, 1,557 unique titles were affected.

Join us to #FreeTheBooks by taking action on the current issues below and making your voice heard. You can also support our book ban work by donating today.

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Florida Attorney General Letter Featured Image

Tell Florida: 'Don't Say Gay' Doesn't Apply to School Libraries

We joined free expression allies in alerting Florida schools to legal filings by the state’s Attorney General that the “Don’t Say Gay” law doesn’t apply to school libraries.  Add your voice by sending an email to the Florida Department of Education commissioner, Manny Diaz, Jr., urging him to tell schools the law doesn’t apply to school libraries.

ADD YOUR VOICE

Iowa Banned Classics

Restore Access to Knowledge in Iowa

After PEN America and other groups brought attention to the Urbandale, Iowa, school district’s directions to remove nearly 400 titles from schools, the district dropped its objections to more than 300 of the books but kept its objection to books including Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and James Joyce’s Ulysses. Join us in asking Urbandale Schools to restore access to knowledge for their students.

ADD YOUR VOICE

Pinellas County Featured Image

Diverse Stories Belong On School Shelves

The Pinellas County school district recently decided to hold 87 titles for “further review.” These books predominately include stories by Black, Latine, Native, Asian, Muslim, and LGBTQIA+ authors. Join We Need Diverse Books, PEN America, the Florida Freedom to Read Project, and authors and illustrators who are deeply concerned that books by marginalized authors are overwhelmingly affected by purported “reviews.” Ask Pinellas County Schools to cancel the upcoming Library Media Review and examine the guidance and procedures that caused this list of diverse and celebrated list of books to be singled out.

ADD YOUR VOICE

Oppose Book Bans With Amanda Gorman 50 50 Image (450 × 350 Px)

WE CLIMB THIS HILL TOGETHER

Amanda Gorman’s book of the poem, The Hill We Climb, was recently removed from elementary school shelves in Miami Lakes, FL, based on the complaint of a single individual who claims the poem “is not educational and have indirectly hate messages.” Also, the ABC’s of Black History by Rio Cortez, Love to Langston by Tony Medina, and Cuban Kids by George Ancona were also removed from school shelves. Tell Miami-Dade County Schools Superintendent and the administrators at the Bob Graham Educational Center that Amanda’s inaugural poem most certainly belongs on all school shelves.

ADD YOUR VOICE

 

Donations from activists like you provide the essential resources we need to defend the freedom to write worldwide. Please consider making a donation in support of this vital work. Thank you.

Litigation 50 50 Content Block

WE'RE SUING

PEN America, Penguin Random House, and a diverse group of authors have joined with parents and students from Escambia County, Florida, to file a federal lawsuit challenging removals and restrictions of books from school libraries that violate their rights to free speech and equal protection under the law.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LAWSUIT

TELL ESCAMBIA COUNTY TO PUT BOOKS BACK ON SHELVES

SPEAK UP

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FOR STUDENTS AND PARENTS

Are you a student whose school or library has proposed or already removed or restricted access to books?

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FOR AUTHORS

Are you an author whose book has been restricted, banned, or threatened for removal?

books in a library

FOR LIBRARIANS

Are you a librarian facing threats, harassment, or pressure to remove books from your shelves?

STAY INFORMED

Banned in the USA: The Mounting Pressure to Censor

Banned in the USA: The Mounting Pressure to Censor

School book bans continue to spread through coordinated campaigns by a vocal minority of groups, individual actors, and state legislation.
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Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools

Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools

PEN America recorded more book bans during the fall 2022 semester than in each of the prior two semesters. This school year also saw the effects of new state laws that censor ideas and materials in public schools, an extension of the book banning movement initiated in 2021 by local citizens and advocacy groups.
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Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools

Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools

PEN America’s latest report on book bans, Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools, explores the forces behind localized efforts to target books.
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America’s Censored Classrooms

America’s Censored Classrooms

PEN America’s latest report on educational gag orders, America’s Censored Classrooms, analyzes the landscape of educational censorship as of August 2022 and predicts the future of these punitive assaults on education.
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Literature Locked Up: How Prison Book Restriction Policies Constitute the Nation’s Largest Book Ban

Literature Locked Up: How Prison Book Restriction Policies Constitute the Nation’s Largest Book Ban

This report details the types of book bans prisoners face, the arbitrariness with which they are implemented, and the lack of transparency and oversight that leads to bans.
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The Index

The Index

Books are disappearing from library shelves and being decreed off-limits by school boards, legislators, and private citizens. PEN America tracks book bans in libraries and classrooms across America in our Index of School Book Bans.
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Stay In Touch

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.