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100-538: The Queer Liberation Library is in part a response to the increasing number of book bans and challenges targeting LGBT materials in the United States. In 2022 the American Library Association , which has compiled data from book challenges reported to their Office for Intellectual Freedom since 1990, reported the greatest number of ban attempts to date, 38% more than in the prior year. Preliminary data from

200-456: A Pulitzer Prize . On January   10, 2022, the board of trustees of McMinn County Schools in Tennessee removed Maus from its schools' curriculum, expressing concern over its use in 8th grade English Language Arts classes. The decision overruled a state curriculum review that had approved the book. The board cited "tough language" and "unnecessary" profanity (eight words, including "damn"),

300-515: A mask mandate , said she heard Craft talking about " microaggressions " in interviews, which she said indicated an ideology related to critical race theory. According to Craft, he was not even aware of critical race theory when he wrote it. After receiving national attention, a review committee decided to reinstate the book and reschedule Craft's event. In November 2021, Governor Greg Abbott publicized his investigation into pornography and obscenity accessible to kids in school libraries. Following

400-404: A venture capitalist startup to help workers unionize, and that PEN America recognized the union the day after it was announced. "MEMBERS OF PEN pledge themselves to do their utmost to dispel race, class, and national hatreds and to champion the ideal of one humanity living in peace in the world. And since freedom implies voluntary restraint, members also pledge themselves to oppose such evils of

500-536: A 20% increase from the same reporting period in 2022." Many of the book titles targeted were BIPOC and LGBT groups. The book bans are largely the result of laws passed in Republican -led states. In fall 2021, the American Library Association (ALA) received 330 reports of book challenges, a rate which it called "unprecedented", but also an undercount because the ALA estimates 82–97% of challenges are not reported. Only 1% of

600-764: A British poet, playwright, and peace activist , who enlisted John Galsworthy as PEN International's first president. The intent of PEN International was to foster international literary fellowship among writers that would transcend national and ethnic divides in the wake of World War I . PEN America subscribes to the principles outlined in the PEN International Charter. PEN America presidents have included current president Jennifer Finney Boylan , Ayad Akhtar , Kwame Anthony Appiah , Louis Begley , Ron Chernow , Joel Conarroe, Jennifer Egan , Frances FitzGerald , Peter Godwin , Francine Prose , Salman Rushdie , Michael Scammell , and Andrew Solomon . In 2018,

700-405: A Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men . Katherine Mangu-Ward of Reason noted that the ALA's list of challenged and banned books "suggests book banners lean right—with an increasing emphasis on books with queer themes or characters, for example—though book challenges come from across the spectrum of political opinion and aesthetic preference.", but added that "It's debatable whether the list's bias

800-443: A badge of honor, while others found it distressing. Kalynn Bayron, author of Cinderella Is Dead , said "these things speak to the level of bigotry that still exists, specifically within our public education system". Kwame Alexander said some of the interest in banning books might have been avoided if advocates had more opportunities themselves as children to experience diverse perspectives. Mikki Kendall , whose book Hood Feminism

900-592: A balancing test of its offensiveness to its literary value. Those books whose offensive material outweighs its literary value will be removed from school library shelves. With this topic being debated in Hamilton County since 2021, many community members representing both sides of this debate have spoken out about the proposed policy changes. Many organizations, like the Tennessee Association of School Librarians, Tennessee Library Association , and Friends of

1000-510: A decision at the level of a teacher, class, school, or district. The spate of challenges and bans in 2021–22 differ from the norm in number as well as the tactics and politics involved. Conservative organizations, activists, and politicians have driven many of the challenges, and they have operated through higher-level political processes than usual, proposing legislation and petitioning lawmakers rather than just teachers or local school boards. The involvement of national advocacy groups also sets

1100-504: A diversity committee in the school district for central York County, Pennsylvania , created a reading list for students and community members amid the George Floyd protests. Though it was intended as a guide for students to learn about issues of race, diversity, and culture, the school board used it as a list of books to remove, voting to "freeze" them a few months later. Though the board decision did not attract much attention, an email from

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1200-504: A free copy of The Complete Maus to any student who requested one, leading them to create a GoFundMe campaign to cover the demand. Former Florida Representative Joe Harding filed House Bill 1557 , Parental Rights in Education , commonly referred to as the "Don't Say Gay" Bill, on January 11, 2022. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the bill on March 28, 2022, and the act went into effect on July 1, 2022. Among other provisions,

1300-491: A free press as mendacious publication, deliberate falsehood, and distortion of facts for political and personal ends." – from PEN's Founding Charter, New York City, 1922. Full membership in PEN America generally requires being a published writer with at least one work professionally published, or being a translator, agent, editor, or other publishing professional. There is also a "reader" tier of membership open to supporters from

1400-490: A more diverse range of people involved in literature and freedom of expression, the name ceased to be an acronym in the United States. PEN America celebrated its centenary in 2022 with an event featuring authors Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie , Margaret Atwood , Jennifer Finney Boylan , and Dave Eggers ; an exhibition at the New York Historical Society ; and a large light-projection by the artist Jenny Holzer at

1500-625: A new library card system be created that require parents or guardians to select whether minors are allowed to check out materials deemed sexually explicit by the library board of control. Act 436 defines sexually explicit material as "textual, visual, or audio material, produced in any medium, that depicts or describes sexual conduct. Individual librarians who have resisted book bans have been targeted with threats and harassment. PEN America PEN America (formerly PEN American Center ), founded in 1922, and headquartered in New York City ,

1600-501: A parent who wants a politician dictating what their kid can learn, and what they can think, or who they can be." In June 2023, the Biden administration announced Biden appointed a coordinator at the U.S. Department of Education to address the rise in book bans. The coordinator will train and advise school districts on how book restrictions may violate federal civil rights laws by creating hostile environments for students. Illinois enacted

1700-426: A record level of bans. Free speech advocates, academics, journalists, and other critics have characterized the campaigns as part of a larger effort to use politics and legislation at the local and state level to impose on education an ideologically skewed version of the United States, its history, and its culture. The Takeaway 's Melissa Harris-Perry cited discomfort with issues like gender identity as one of

1800-547: A response to the increasing number of book bans and challenges targeting LGBT materials, the Queer Liberation Library formed in 2023 to provide digital access for anyone residing in the United States. At a White House event honoring educators on April 24, 2023, President Joe Biden commented, "I never thought I’d be a president who is fighting against elected officials trying to ban and banning books. Empty shelves don’t help kids learn very much. And I’ve never met

1900-420: A small drawing of a (nude) cat representing a woman, and mentions of murder, violence, and suicide. The board questioned its age-appropriateness and whether it aligned with the values of the community. The removal attracted criticism and international media attention the day before Holocaust Remembrance Day . Spiegelman called the decision " Orwellian " and said reading the minutes of the board meeting indicated

2000-525: A widespread effort to remove books on racial and gender diversity". A spokesperson for the National Coalition Against Censorship said the events were "damaging to all stakeholders", including teachers who must comply, learners who do not read stories that reflect the world around them, and students from the marginalized groups depicted in the stories, who learn "that their own stories and their own lives aren't fit for consumption". As

2100-772: Is Suzanne Nossel . PEN America holds multiple events in the United States throughout the year with the goal of celebrating literature in multiple forms. Many feature prominent authors who appear at festivals and on panel discussions, give lectures, and are featured at PEN America's Authors' Evenings. As a part of its work, PEN America also gives recognition to emerging writers, recognizing them through PEN America's Literary Awards or bringing them to new audiences at public events. Among them are: Hermione Hoby , Morgan Jerkins , Crystal Hana Kim , Alice Sola Kim , Lisa Ko , Layli Long Soldier , Carmen Maria Machado , Darnell L. Moore , Alexis Okeowo , Helen Oyeyemi , Tommy Pico , Jenny Zhang , and Ibi Zoboi . The PEN World Voices Festival

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2200-630: Is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise awareness for the protection of free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of literature and human rights . PEN America is the largest of the more than 100 PEN centers worldwide that together compose PEN International . PEN America has offices in New York City, Los Angeles , Washington, D.C. , and since late 2023 also in Florida. PEN America's advocacy includes work on educational censorship, press freedom and

2300-1403: Is a week-long series of events in New York City hosted by PEN America each spring. It is the largest international literary festival in the United States, and the only one with a human rights focus. The festival was founded by Salman Rushdie in the aftermath of September 11 Attacks , with the aim of broadening channels of dialogue between the United States and the world. Notable guests have included: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie , Margaret Atwood , Paul Auster , Samantha Bee , Giannina Braschi , Carrie Brownstein , Ron Chernow , Hillary Rodham Clinton , Ta-Nehisi Coates , Teju Cole , E. L. Doctorow , Dave Eggers , Roxane Gay , Masha Gessen , John Irving , Marlon James , Saeed Jones , Jhumpa Lahiri , Ottessa Moshfegh , Hasan Minaj , Sean Penn , Cecile Richards , Salman Rushdie , Gabourey Sidibe , Patti Smith , Zadie Smith , Andrew Solomon , Pia Tafdrup , Ngugi wa Thiong'o , Colm Toibin , Amor Towles, and Colson Whitehead . The PEN America Literary Awards annually honor outstanding voices in literature across genres, including fiction, poetry, drama, science and writing, essays, biography, and children's literature. PEN America confers 11 awards, fellowships, grants, and prizes each year, presenting nearly US$ 350,000 to writers and translators. The US$ 75,000 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award

2400-566: Is an artifact of the collectors' concerns or simply a reflection of an underlying reality." Kyle Smith of National Review accused the media of a double standard when labeling the removal of Maus from the McMinn County, Tennessee school curriculum by the school board as a "ban", while not using the same label for when To Kill a Mockingbird was removed from required curriculum by a school board in Washington State . In August 2020,

2500-589: Is an international hub of more than 800 organizations working to protect artistic freedom around the world by improving access to resources for artists at risk, raising awareness of the threats, and enhancing connections among supporters of artistic freedom. This program extends support to artists of all kinds, encompassing writers, cartoonists, visual artists, filmmakers, musicians, and performance artists, as well as other individuals who produce significant creative output. Several authors have requested that their names be removed from PEN referring to dissatisfaction with

2600-596: Is becoming an appalling pattern of blatant disrespect towards its unionized staff,' said the union in a statement." And "The union has also filed two unfair labor practices (ULP) against PEN America with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The ULPs concern workers’ just-cause and labor-management committee proposals: workers say the company engaged in 'regressive bargaining' with both proposals, meaning they offered less than they had previously, after bringing on Tanya Khan from Kauff McGuire & Margolis,

2700-618: Is currently the top award given by PEN America, and among the largest literary prizes in the United States. Among other awards conferred are the US$ 25,000 PEN/Hemingway Award for a Debut Novel, the US$ 25,000 PEN/Bingham Award for a Debut Short Story Collection, and the US$ 10,000 PEN/Open Book Award for new books by writers of color. The PEN America Literary Gala in New York and PEN America Los Angeles Gala are annual events celebrating free expression and

2800-483: Is open to any person with a mailing address within the United States, with no age restrictions. The Queer Liberation Library had over 50,000 patrons as of February 13, 2024. The library collection contains LGBT books including banned books, LGBT classics, and newly published fiction and nonfiction for children, youth, and adults. At the end of 2023 QLL had 557 books in the collection. As of June 2024, QLL's digital catalog has expanded to over 1,200 titles. Users can access

2900-578: Is under particular challenge, including China , Myanmar , Russia , Belarus , Ukraine , and Central Asia . PEN America monitors the freedom of the press and safety of journalists in the United States and internationally. PEN America also focuses on issues of fraudulent news and media literacy, and has produced an in-depth report, "Faking News: Fraudulent News and the Fight for Truth", alongside its "News Consumers Bill of Rights and Responsibilities." Current work focuses on how to fight disinformation ahead of

3000-481: The Black Lives Matter movement in general, also fueled a reactionary movement advocating for teaching students an idealized version of the history of the United States which omits or whitewashes issues like racism. The book challenge trend is frequently linked by journalists and academics to other elements of that reactionary movement, especially the restrictions on teaching " critical race theory " which limit

3100-672: The COVID-19 pandemic . The groups have also been successful in attracting attention in conservative media. According to University of Massachusetts political science professor Maurice T. Cunningham, the parents' rights groups are "highly networked into The Daily Caller , Breitbart [and] Fox News ". In 2020, the murder of George Floyd and other unarmed Black Americans by law enforcement led to widespread protests against police brutality and systemic racism . The public conversation about these concepts led some teachers and schools to talk about racism more with their students. That, and

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3200-524: The Online Harassment Field Manual in an effort to aid writers and journalists who must navigate online spaces by providing resources, tools, and tips to help them respond safely and effectively to incidents of online harassment and hateful speech . PEN America also leads workshops to equip writers, journalists, and all those active online with tools and tactics to defend against hateful speech and trolling . The Artists at Risk Connection

3300-623: The Rockefeller Center . PEN America was formed on April 19, 1922, in New York City , and included among its initial members writers such as Willa Cather , Eugene O'Neill , Robert Frost , Ellen Glasgow , Edwin Arlington Robinson , and Robert Benchley . Booth Tarkington served as the organization's first president. PEN America's founding came after the launch of PEN International in 1921 in London by Catherine Amy Dawson-Scott ,

3400-647: The United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa in November 2023. Publisher Penguin Random House , four bestselling authors and educators filed a separate lawsuit that month. Judge Stephen H. Locher issued an injunction against some parts of the law on December   29, 2023, calling the law "wildly overbroad". In Louisiana, Act 436 (formerly SB7) of the 2023 Regular Session

3500-496: The 2021–22 trend apart from book challenges of the past. Organizations like No Left Turn in Education and Parents Defending Education operate nationally, with connections to wealthy conservative donors and organizations, but provide resources, connections, and sophisticated strategy to grow, support, and mobilize local parent groups. According to NBC News , as of June 2021, there were "at least 165 local and national groups that aim to disrupt lessons on race and gender". Several of

3600-589: The 2024 presidential election, with particular focus on Florida, Texas, and Arizona. PEN America has a focus on issues surrounding free speech at colleges and universities and seeks to raise awareness of the First Amendment and foster constructive dialogue that upholds the free speech rights of all on campus. This work includes the "PEN America Principles on Campus Free Speech", and the report "And Campus for All: Diversity, Inclusion, and Freedom of Speech at U.S. Universities". In April 2018, PEN America launched

3700-596: The 61 nominated authors withdrew their books from consideration in the annual PEN America Awards ceremony as they condemned America's Pen for failing to strongly condemn what they called the genocide in Palestine. The cancellation comes days after the organization canceled the 2024 annual awards festival. The festival was supposed to be held on May 8 in New York City and Los Angeles. Alex N. Press reports in Jacobin , May 01, 2024, "'PEN America management’s recent actions reflect what

3800-420: The ALA published its annual report on book censorship, finding that there were 729 attempts to remove school, university and library materials in 2021, resulting in 1,597 book challenges or removals. This is the highest number of removals and challenges of books that the ALA has recorded in a single year since the organization began tracking book censorship more than 20 years ago. In the first eight months of 2022,

3900-447: The ALA received 681 reports of book challenges targeting 1,651 unique books. Most of the books have to do with race, sex, sexual orientation, and gender. Parents, teachers, students, and other stakeholders commonly express concerns over the works students read in schools. Typically, the process of challenging a book's inclusion in curricula or in libraries involves the parties reading the book, debating its appropriateness, and making

4000-562: The Escambia County School District, claiming that book bans violate Constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection under the law. The organization also hosts regular Free Speech Advocacy Institutes to train young people to advocate for free speech. PEN America's work is sustained advocacy on behalf of individual writers and journalists who are being persecuted because of their work. With help from its members and supporters, PEN America carries out campaigns to ensure

4100-587: The PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature and the annual PEN America Literary Awards, sometimes referred to as the "Oscars of Books." PEN America also works to amplify underrepresented voices, including emerging authors and writers who are undocumented , incarcerated, or face obstacles in reaching audiences. The organization's name was conceived as an acronym: Poets, Essayists, Novelists (later broadened to Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, Novelists). As membership expanded to include

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4200-535: The Queer Liberation Library collection from desktop or mobile device through the Overdrive website or Libby app . Book banning in the United States (2021%E2%80%93present) Starting in 2021, there have been a considerable number of books banned or challenged in parts of the United States. Most of the targeted books have to do with race , gender , and sexuality . Unlike most book challenges in

4300-656: The Tennessee Libraries have spoken out against the school board and Thurman, citing that, "students' 'freedom to read and unfettered access to information is protected by their First Amendment rights". At the March 17, 2022 school board meeting, when the policy was presented, approximately ten community members addressed the school board during public comment both in support of and against the newly proposed policy. Policies 4.402 and 4.403 are currently being revised and updated by school board attorney Scott Bennett. Once finalized,

4400-591: The Texas State Teachers Association called it a "witch hunt" and a "disturbing and political overreach into the classroom" which raises legal concerns. While Krause did not make his motivations or intentions clear, the Texas Tribune speculated it may have to do with House Bill 3979. The Katy Independent School District removed New Kid by Jerry Craft in October 2021 and canceled an event with

4500-542: The Translation Committee and the Children and Young Adult Book Authors Committee. The Emerging Voices Fellowship is a literary mentorship that aims to provide new writers who are isolated from the literary establishment with the tools, skills, and knowledge they need to launch a professional writing career. The DREAMing Out Loud program helps aspiring migrant writers. PEN America also has offered workshops that nurture

4600-650: The United States and around the world. This work includes research and reports on topical issues, advocacy internationally and in the United States, and campaigns on policy issues and on behalf of individual writers and journalists under threat. After 2020, PEN America increasingly focused on tracking book bans, including with its annual Banned in the USA report and educational censorship in public schools and higher education, including "educational gag order" bills. In 2023, PEN America, along with publisher Penguin Random House and several banned authors, and parents, filed suit against

4700-602: The United States, have led to many book removals. NBC News described the use of the term "critical race theory" in this context as "a catch-all term to refer to what schools often call equity programs, teaching about racism or LGBTQ-inclusive policies". University of Michigan education professor Ebony Elizabeth Thomas summarized the issue as "an assumption that everything Black is critical race theory". Proponents of removing books mention how certain kinds of lessons dealing with racism and history can make students uncomfortable and make white students feel guilty. In some other cases,

4800-555: The actions more about punishing educators and librarians or creating a chilling effect than limiting what students have access to. For example, proposed legislation in Iowa would allow for criminal prosecution of librarians. University of Chicago history professor Ada Palmer said that the main goal of censorship throughout history has not been "to silence or destroy books or works that already exist [but] to frighten people and discourage them from reading, buying and creating similar works in

4900-458: The appointment of former State Department official Suzanne Nossel ." And "[PEN's] refusal to condemn the genocide in Gaza and Israel’s targeted killings of writers, academics and journalists, has seen numerous writers withdraw from the annual PEN World Voices Festival in New York and Los Angeles, scheduled for April and May." PEN America has canceled its World Voices festival after twenty-eight of

5000-408: The author. The graphic novel, which won the 2020 Kirkus Prize , Newbury Medal , and Coretta Scot King Award , is about a 12-year-old black boy who experiences culture shock when he enrolls at a private school. The district reacted to a petition which said the book promoted critical race theory, Marxism, and " reverse racism ". The person who began the petition, who also sued the school district over

5100-440: The availability of objected books. A 2023 analysis by The Washington Post found that a majority of book challenges in over 100 school districts from the 2021–2022 school year were filed by just 11 people. Based on a survey by PEN , about 10,000 books were banned from US schools by Republican-led censorship laws in the 2023/2024 academic year. This was nearly triple the amount of the previous academic year, which had also seen

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5200-597: The ban in September 2021, and decided to reaffirm it. Amid criticism, it reconvened shortly thereafter and reversed its decision, saying it never intended to ban the material, but rather wanted time to review it. Texas passed House Bill 3979 in July 2021. Known as Texas's " critical race theory law", after an academic field which became a common objection for conservatives, it restricts the manner and extent to which students may learn about or discuss race, racism, sex, or sexism, or

5300-583: The board was effectively asking "Why can't they teach a nicer Holocaust?". Several elected officials, writers, journalists, librarians, and academics spoke out against it. James Blasingame of Arizona State University argued that what makes Maus disturbing is what should make any book about the Holocaust disturbing. Following publicity around the ban, sales of Maus spiked, becoming the number one best-seller on Amazon . A bookstore in Tennessee offered to give

5400-424: The book does not just take away the words in the book, but the possibility for conversation about the concepts it raises. The American Library Association released a statement signed by its executive board and Boards of Directors of its eight divisions in response to "a dramatic uptick in book challenges and outright removal of books from libraries". Their message condemned "a few organizations [which] have advanced

5500-652: The book had been the target of restrictions since being released in 2005, it had never been permanently restricted in a public school library until December 2022, in Lake County. A mayor in Ridgeland, Mississippi denied $ 110,000 in funding to the Madison County Public Library System that had already been approved by the city's board of aldermen. His justification for doing so was the library's possession of books on LGBTQ+ topics. According to Tonja Jackson,

5600-506: The books and how much was spent on them. The list included a wide range of fiction and non-fiction bestsellers and award-winners like The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron , Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates , and Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall . Authors on the list reacted with a mix of outrage and pride. The president of

5700-478: The books have been by or about people of color or the LGBTQ community, but the reasons cited for removal have to do with profanity or sex. For example, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is about a black girl from a poor neighborhood who attends an elite, predominantly white private school and becomes entangled in a national news story after she witnesses a white police officer kill her childhood friend. It has been among

5800-634: The books they argue to ban. NBC News reported that while these groups operate differently, "they share strategies of disruption, publicity and mobilization. The groups swarm school board meetings, inundate districts with time-consuming public records requests and file lawsuits and federal complaints alleging discrimination against white students." One parent in Rhode Island submitted more than 200 records requests which took 300 staff hours to respond to. In some places, they teamed up with other activists fighting against public health restrictions in schools during

5900-606: The books were "frozen" rather than "banned" until they could be evaluated, although the books remained off of the shelves for nearly a year. A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Education Association told the York Daily Record that "if you look at this material, it's offensive what they banned. They have banned materials from Black voices, and they've had almost a year now and they haven't proposed anything else". The school board met again to discuss

6000-583: The case. The judge dismissed the case a few months later in August. In Iowa, Senate File 496 (SF   496) was introduced and passed by the Iowa Legislature in early 2023. Variously known as a "Don't Say Gay" law , a "Book Ban" law, and a "Parental Rights" law, the measure was signed into law by Iowa governor Kim Reynolds on May   26 and some of its provisions went into effect on July   1. A coalition of LGBT advocacy groups and families sued in

6100-638: The challenges have begun with lists of books shared online by conservative advocacy organizations like No Left Turn in Education and Moms for Liberty . The lists are distributed to parents who then audit local schools and libraries to see if they have any copies of the listed titles. No Left Turn in Education, for example, maintains lists of books in categories "critical race theory", "anti-police", and "comprehensive sexuality education", which they say "are used to spread radical and racist ideologies to students". The strategy of distributing lists has meant that many challenges come from people who have not actually read

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6200-533: The challenges were initiated by students, and most were by parents or library patrons. The New York Times reported in January 2022 that "parents, activists, school board officials and lawmakers around the country are challenging books at a pace not seen in decades". In April 2022, nonprofit organization PEN America found that 1,586 book bans targeting 1,145 unique books had occurred in the past nine months. Also in April,

6300-507: The children". In many cases, bans on certain books led to increased sales of those books , such as works by Jerry Craft , Toni Morrison , and Adam Rapp . The popularizing effects of banning any book, and the increased ease of access in the age of the Internet, mean the consequences of a ban are less significant than they were when books were harder to access, making it more of a ceremonial act. Some critics have argued this also makes some of

6400-538: The common reasons for challenges, but that "this discomfort is likely imposed by adults onto young learners" who are otherwise more accepting and more likely to think outside traditional gender roles . Shauntee Burns-Simpson of the New York Public Library highlighted the issue of taking one page or one quote from a book without context and making a decision about the value of a book based on an initial reaction to that quote. Burns-Simpson also noted that banning

6500-616: The complete ban in statute to pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. These laws have led to school districts across the state removing books with LGBTQ content. In an attempt to follow the statute, Lake County School District restricted access to 40 books, most dealing with LGBTQ themes. Books restricted included A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss , And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson , and In Our Mothers’ House by Patricia Polacco. Also citing

6600-417: The coordinated, often well-funded book challenges to other reactionary efforts to restrict what students should learn about systemic bias and the history of the United States . Hundreds of books have been challenged, including high-profile examples like Maus by Art Spiegelman and New Kid by Jerry Craft . The American Library Association documented 1,269 demands of book censorship in 2022. It

6700-425: The country and offers a Writing for Justice Fellowship for writers inside and outside of prison seeking to advance the conversation around the challenges of mass incarceration through creative expression. The PEN Writers' Emergency Fund assists professional writers in acute, emergency financial crisis. PEN America Membership committees focus on the interests of literary professionals in different fields and include

6800-411: The country with writing resources and audiences for their work. The program sponsors an annual writing contest, publishes a free writing handbook for prisoners, provides one-on-one mentoring to inmates whose writing shows promise, and seeks to bring inmates' work to the public through literary events, readings, and publications. PEN America also provides assistance to other prison writing initiatives around

6900-491: The distribution of the books to minors by booksellers and libraries. Anderson had done so on behalf of Tommy Altman, another politician who was running as a Republican for Congress. A group of independent bookstores and organizations represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia filed a brief arguing the motions were unconstitutional. Barnes & Nobles also filed a brief for a motion to dismiss

7000-412: The executive director of the library, the mayor declared that he would not release the funds until all of those books were removed, citing his personal religious beliefs. Jackson stated, "I explained that we are a public library and we serve the entire community. I told him our collection reflects the diversity of our community. He told me that the library can serve whoever we wanted, but that he only serves

7100-435: The extent to which students can learn about systemic racism and the history of race in the United States. Legislation was introduced or passed in at least 29 states taking aim at lessons that teach children about race and inequality, with most of the laws framed around putting a stop to "critical race theory". These laws, which use broad language prohibiting teaching about privilege related to race or sex, or systemic bias in

7200-454: The first eight months of 2023 shows a 20% increase in challenges in the same reporting period of 2022. Book challenges in libraries and schools are key component of the 2020s anti-LGBT movement in the United States . Because QLL is available to users anywhere in the United States, it can provide access to the most frequently banned LGBT books, including in states with high numbers of bans like Florida, Texas, and Pennsylvania. Membership with QLL

7300-413: The freedom, safety, and ability to write and publish without constraint. Advocacy is conducted from PEN America's Washington, D.C. , office, as well as through national and international campaigns, events, reports, and delegations. The organization publishes an index of threats to writers and gives out an annual Freedom to Write award. PEN America also focuses on countries and regions where free expression

7400-832: The future". Several commentators argued it is hypocritical for conservative pundits and politicians to support banning books that may make students feel uncomfortable after a period of strongly criticizing " cancel culture ". Adam Szetela of Newsweek opined that both the right and the left are "guilty" of banning books, citing the ban of To Kill a Mockingbird in California schools, Dr. Seuss ' books being pulled from libraries and bookstores, and videos of liberals burning Harry Potter books. Angela Haupt of The Washington Post also noted efforts by Democratic politicians and liberal parents to ban books for containing racist language, racial slurs and " white savior " characters, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , To Kill

7500-473: The general public, as well as a "student" membership. The PEN America Board of Trustees is composed of writers, artists, and leaders in the fields of publishing, media, technology, law, finance, human rights , and philanthropy . Jennifer Finney Boylan , author and LGBTQ rights advocate, became president of PEN America on December 11, 2023, succeeding Ayad Akhtar , a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize who

7600-457: The great Lord above." McGhee has maintained that his opposition to the LGBTQ+ books stems from complaints from community members. The library began a fundraiser due to the funding being withheld, and raised $ 77,000 in an eight-day period. The board of aldermen met as a result of the funding being withheld; more than twenty members of the public spoke, and the meeting lasted for two hours. One member of

7700-458: The investigations by Krause and Abbott, a San Antonio district removed more than 400 books in December 2021. Maus is a nonfiction book by Art Spiegelman in which he interviews his father about his experiences as a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. The work is presented as a graphic novel , and it depicts groups of people as different kinds of animals. It was the first graphic novel to win

7800-685: The law bans classroom discussion or instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation from kindergarten to third grade. From fourth to twelfth grade, the law restricts such discussion to what the state deems to be either "age appropriate or developmentally appropriate". However, in April 2023, the Florida Board of Education voted to expand the ban on classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation to grades four through twelve, with exceptions for sex education lessons for which parents can opt-out and other explicit state requirements. In May 2023, Florida passed HB   1069, which expanded

7900-440: The law, Seminole County removed three books with LGBTQ+ or gender-non-conforming characters – I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings , Jacob’s New Dress by Ian Hoffman and Sarah Hoffman, and 10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert . In June 2023, Parnell and Richardson sued Lake County School District for banning And Tango Makes Three with "no legitimate pedagogical reason" . Richardson commented that, although

8000-723: The libraries, the process". In a personal opinion piece, Thurman cited four books she viewed to be unfit for school libraries: More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer , On the Come Up by Angie Thomas, Far from the Tree by Robin Benway , and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. After several weeks of debate, the new policies, 4.402 and 4.403, were then presented to the Hamilton County School Board at its March   17, 2022 meeting. The policy requires reported books to be evaluated on

8100-526: The literary arts. These events include tributes and calls to action to audiences of authors, screenwriters, producers, executives, philanthropists, actors, and other devotees of the written word. Honorees have included Salman Rushdie , Stephen King , J. K. Rowling , Toni Morrison , and Margaret Atwood . Celebrated writers serve as Literary Hosts for the events. Founded in 1971, the PEN Prison Writing Program provides hundreds of inmates across

8200-630: The most challenged books between 2000 and 2009. Strauss and education historian Adam Laats connected the trend to challenges of Darwin's On the Origin of Species and evolution in schools in the early 20th century which, according to Laats, involved similar strategies of mobilizing parents to take over school boards and widescale legislative proposals claiming to defend children's morality. In late 2022 and early 2023, efforts escalated into proposals by public officials in several states to close libraries or defund library systems that were seen as facilitating

8300-438: The most challenged books primarily because it contains profanity. According to Richard Price, a professor at Weber State University who studies book censorship, there is a "cycle of anxiety in which book challengers are driven by concerns and fears about a changing world. And so whatever the issue of the day is, then that usually drives and pushes people to try to remove books". Before the focus on critical race theory in 2020,

8400-461: The most commonly banned books had to do with LGBTQ inclusion. In her Washington Post analysis, Valerie Strauss contextualized the bans in the history of book censorship in the United States, dating back to charges of blasphemy in 1650 against William Pynchon 's The Meritorious Price on Our Redemption , and spanning The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , and the Harry Potter books, which were

8500-599: The nation's first state law to restrict the ability of local libraries to enact book bans. The law withholds state funding from any library that bans books for "partisan or doctrinal" reasons. It makes mandatory the Library Bill of Rights published by the American Library Association. Governor J. B. Pritzker signed the law on June 12, 2023, and it took effect at the start of the following year. A number of authors whose works were banned spoke out. Some saw it as

8600-550: The organization filed suit against President Trump for allegedly using the powers of his office to retaliate against unfavorable reporting. In 2023, it filed suit against the school district in Escambia County, Florida , over book bans, joined by publisher Penguin Random House , several banned authors, and parents in the district. As of June 2022, PEN America staff announced their intention to unionize . The Los Angeles Times reported that workers unionized with Unit of Work,

8700-490: The organization's position regarding the Gaza war ; among them were Camonghne Felix nominated by Jean Stein , Eugenia Leigh a poetry finalist and Ghassan Zeineddine nominated for a short story. In a letter signed by Naomi Klein , Lorrie Moore , and dozens of others protested that PEN had not “launched any substantial coordinated support” for Palestinians. Chris Hedges reports in his The Chris Hedges Report website in March 2024, "In May 2013 I resigned from PEN America over

8800-468: The past, whereby parents or other stakeholders in the community would engage teachers and school administrators in a debate over a title, local groups have received support from conservative advocacy organizations working to nationalize the efforts focused on certain subjects. They have also been more likely to involve legal and legislative measures rather than just conversations in local communities. Journalists, academics, librarians, and others commonly link

8900-459: The policies will then be submitted and must go through debate amongst the school board and two separate votes for the policy to be enacted. In May 2022, Tim Anderson , who was a Republican delegate in the Virginia House of Delegates , filed two motions for temporary restraining orders against the books Gender Queer and A Court of Mist and Fury , with the goal being the restriction of

9000-456: The proposition that the voices of the marginalized have no place on library shelves   ... falsely claiming that these works are subversive, immoral, or worse [and inducing] officials to abandon constitutional principles, ignore the rule of law, and disregard individual rights to promote government censorship of library collections". A spokesperson told ABC News that in her time working with reports of book challenges, she had "never seen such

9100-409: The public described the books as "filth" and "pornographic." The school board of Hamilton County, Tennessee created a book-review committee with the intent to draft a policy regarding book selections in public school libraries and complaints of books already on shelves. This committee contained two representatives from each of the nine current Hamilton County school districts in which each member

9200-526: The role of those concepts in American culture and history. The law, and confusion over how to enforce it, led to many book challenges. In October 2021, Texas Representative Matt Krause distributed a list to Texas school superintendents containing 850 books having to do with race, sexuality, and history which might "make students feel discomfort". Most of the books' authors are women, people of color, or LGBTQ. Krause wanted to know which school districts had

9300-508: The safety of writers, campus free speech , online harassment , artistic freedom , and support to regions of the world with challenges to freedom of expression. PEN America also campaigns for individual writers and journalists who have been imprisoned or come under threat for their work and annually presents the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. PEN America hosts public programming and events on literature and human rights, including

9400-625: The school principal to staff in August 2021 received significant pushback. In the email, the principal told teachers they were prohibited from using any of the materials on the list in their classes. The hundreds of works on the list were largely about representation of Black and Latino Americans in the United States. As described by The New York Times , some parents objected to material that would "make white children feel guilty about their race or 'indoctrinate' students". Students protested, wearing black t-shirts, advocating on social media, and picketing daily before school started. Officials argued that

9500-672: The writing skills of domestic workers , taxi drivers , street vendors , and others wage earners. PEN America has several periodic publications. They include the Prison Writing Awards Anthology featuring winning entries from the annual contest for incarcerated authors, and PEN America Best Debut Short Stories , a yearly anthology of fiction by the recipients of the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. PEN America's Free Expression programs defend writers and journalists and protect free expression rights in

9600-409: Was among the most challenged, said the bans are a "ridiculous publicity stunt" which would not actually stop kids from reading the books because "there's nothing more attractive to a kid than a forbidden book". Jason Reynolds , co-author of All American Boys , said the bans were more about parents "doing everything they can to shield young people from the things that scare them, not things that scare

9700-429: Was invited to share their thoughts and views on the policy and how it should be changed. The committee was formed after School Board Chairman Tucker McClendon introduced the idea and it was agreed to be led by District 1 representative Rhonda Thurman. Thurman explained that her reasoning behind chairing the committee is because, "I’m just wanting to inform the public about what their tax dollars are paying for, what's in

9800-1297: Was named president December 2, 2020, and Jennifer Egan , a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize and the 2018 Carnegie Medal for literary excellence , who became president in 2018. Other members of the Board of Trustees Executive Committee are: Vice President Ayad Akhtar , Executive Vice President and Interim Treasurer Markus Dohle , Vice President Tracy Higgins, Roxanne Donovan, Michael Pietsch, and Marvin S. Putnam. Additional trustees are: Marie Arana , Peter Barbey , John Chao, Susan Choi , Bridget Colman, Patricia Duff, Lauren Embrey, Patricia Fili-Krushel , James Hannaham , Tom Healy , Elizabeth Hemmerdinger, Linda E. Johnson, Zachary Karabell , Sean Kelly, Min Jin Lee , Franklin Leonard , Margo Lowy, Margaret Munzer Loeb, Dinaw Mengestu , Ken Miller, Wesley Morris , Paul Muldoon , Lynn Nottage , George Packer , Alix Ritchie, Anya Salama, Richard Sarnoff, Andrew Solomon , Luis Alberto Urrea , Suzy Wahba, Tara Westover , and Jamie Wolf. Ex-Officio Trustees are Krystyna Poray Goddu and Allison Markin Powell. The Chief Executive Officer of PEN America

9900-531: Was signed into law by Governor John Bel Edwards in June 2023 and went into effect August 1, 2023. The law requires all public libraries in the state of Louisiana to "adopt a policy to limit the access of minors to sexual explicit material." Libraries throughout the state were given a deadline of June 1, 2024 to implement new policies, with failure to do so resulting in the state withholding payments for library maintenance and upkeep. The Act specifically requires that

10000-584: Was the highest the organization had ever recorded since it began collecting censorship data more than 20 years prior. 2023 was even higher, with 4,240 different book titles challenged nationwide, as part of 1,247 reported requests filed against books, and other library resources, such as educational research databases . An update by the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom recently released preliminary data stating, "between January 1 and August 31, 2023, OIF reported 695 attempts to censor library materials and services and documented challenges to 1,915 unique titles -

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