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ALA Report Shows Record Number of Book Bans in 2022

Book Banning

March 23, 2023

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Graphic: Unite Against Book Bans

The Authors Guild joins the American Library Association (ALA) in its outrage over the record number of book bans in 2022. The ALA’s report issued today shows nearly twice as many challenges at school and public libraries in 2022 than were made in 2021, which was itself a record.

A healthy democracy requires vigorous literary debate, a diversity of ideas, and a tolerance for discourse that some may find offensive or challenging. Regardless of one’s political, social, or religious views, suppressing books is anti-democratic, harmful, and a dangerous step toward autocracy. While parents have the right to decide what their own children may read, individual citizens should not have the right to remove books from schools and libraries and prevent other children from having access to them.

We urge those who are challenging books to consider the First Amendment ramifications and the precedent created by book removals. We also ask them to respect the expertise of educators who are trained to review and assess books and determine their appropriateness for various age groups.