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Take Action to Support the Freedom to Read

Book Banning Free Speech

October 21, 2024

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On Saturday, October 19, libraries, bookstores, readers, and partners nationwide hosted rallies and community events to unite against book bans and celebrate the freedom to read. It’s not too late to get involved! You can still join the Unite Against Book Bans coalition and sign the freedom to read pledge.

The Authors Guild continues to fight for the freedom to read every day. Today, we filed a preliminary injunction motion (PDF) in a lawsuit with publishers against Iowa’s overly broad law that calls for banning books from K-12 libraries based on vague, arbitrary criteria like mentioning “made love.”

Earlier this week, we sent a letter (PDF) with Penguin Random House and others protesting the Montgomery County, Texas, Citizens Review Committee’s re-classification of Colonization and the Wampanoag Story by Linda Coombs from juvenile non-fiction to fiction. The book is a carefully researched Indigenous perspective on European colonization, and the reclassification is an outright attempt to skew history and send a message that Indigenous histories are not to be trusted as fact.

We continue to litigate against the states of Texas and Arkansas, opposing laws that require the banning of certain books in schools under vague rules. We have secured injunctions against enforcement of these laws in both states with strongly worded opinions in the district courts and the Fifth Circuit that provide excellent precedent.

In August, we joined PRH and other publishers in a lawsuit against the state of Florida to enjoin another unconstitutional law that requires books to be banned in schools and libraries under broad, purposely vague laws that force schools and libraries to overaccommodate.

We have opposed draconian state-level censorship in Utah and Alabama and raised alarms about Idaho libraries resorting to “adults-only” policies to navigate restrictive state laws.

Our General Counsel, Cheryl L. Davis, has been on the road this fall to share strategies for combating book bans on a local level, including speaking in Austin for Banned Books Week and participating in the WriterFest Nashville podcast to introduce our positions on book banning to a broader audience. We also have a Stop Book Bans toolkit and Protect the Freedom to Read one-pager to help anyone get involved.

Please help us continue our work in this crucial fight.