Industry & Advocacy News
August 12, 2026
The Authors Guild applauds the Massachusetts state government for enacting legislation protecting schoolchildren’s access to books and the ability of authors to continue to write and get their books before their desired audience. On August 10, Governor Maura Healey signed the state’s “Freedom to Read” bill into law. Authors Guild General Counsel Cheryl L. Davis was pleased to attend the signing ceremony as part of the Massachusetts Freedom to Read Coalition, which helped advocate for the law.
As Gov. Healey stated (while standing behind a podium bearing a sign saying “Books, Not Bans”): “This is a law about freedom. The freedom to read. The freedom to learn. The freedom to ask difficult questions. The freedom to encounter ideas we may agree with or disagree with.” The new law will create clear procedures for challenging school library books and requires that the determination whether to include books in a school library be based on professional training, not on “personal, political or doctrinal views.” It will also prevent school employees from being disciplined or imprisoned for selecting library materials in good faith and in accordance with the policy set out in the law.
Books and education are being attacked across the country, both at the state and local level and federally through measures such as H.R. 7661 and the removal of more than 500 books from schools run by the Department of Defense Education Activity. Massachusetts joins Rhode Island, Illinois, California, Maryland, Minnesota, and other states that have responded by formally codifying the right to read. We continue to lobby for the passage of similar bills in additional states including New York.
“In this moment, when education and free thinking are under attack, it’s really important that there’s leadership coming from the states,” said Gov. Healey. “We’re keeping book bans out of Massachusetts.” We hope more states will do likewise.
