Take Action to #FreeTheBooks
PEN AMERICA NEEDS YOUR HELP TO #FREETHEBOOKS In classrooms, school districts, and libraries across the country, the freedom to read is under assault by restrictions and bans on books. Join… More
America’s Censored Classrooms
This year, proposed educational gag orders have increased 250 percent compared to 2021. More
Educational Censorship
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… More
Fireproof Edition of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale Sells for $130,000 at Auction, with Proceeds to Benefit PEN America
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said: “We are thrilled and grateful to Margaret for her wondrous idea to support our fight against this unprecedented and spreading censorship. This imaginative… More
Margaret Atwood Unveils Fireproof Copy of Bestseller The Handmaid’s Tale To Be Auctioned by Sotheby’s in Support of PEN America
‘Powerful Words Can Never Be Extinguished’ (NEW YORK)--Nearly 700 supporters of PEN America's work to defend free expression reacted with cheers and applause at the organization's annual gala tonight after… More
Book Banning In Walton County Based On Misleading “Porn In Schools Report” Illustrates Alarming Influence Of Fringe Groups On Educational Censorship
School districts like Walton are letting bigoted, unfounded claims dictate access to literature for all Last week, reports circulated that Walton County School District in Florida decided to remove a… More
Statement: Florida Rejection of Math Textbooks Raises Question Over Whether Politics Guided Decision
"The Florida Department of Education's rejection of 41 percent of math textbooks submitted to the state--including 71 percent of textbooks for grades K-5-- on the grounds that they include… More
Banned in the USA: Rising School Book Bans Threaten Free Expression and Students’ First Amendment Rights (April 2022)
PEN America has collated an Index of School Book Bans, offering a snapshot of the trend of decisions to ban books in school libraries and classrooms in the United… More
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PEN America On 
"Efforts, successful ones, such as these, to dramatically shrink, surveil and manipulate the content of education in America must be the single gravest matter facing education today." #EdScare https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2022/12/08/educational-gag-orders-are-student-rights-issue-opinion
"If a young person has a question about anything in life, the safe and accurate place to get the information is not the internet—it's the library," said former teacher Monica Edwards
League City, TX voted to ban children's books on certain topics anyway https://www.axios.com/local/houston/2022/12/08/league-city-children-book-criteria
In this week's #PENTen interview, PEN America’s Los Angeles Program Director Jenn Dees speaks with @knguyenpoetry, author of Here I Am Burn Me (@writebloody Publishing, 2022). https://pen.org/the-pen-ten-an-interview-with-kimberly-nguyen/ #AuthorsOfTwitter