Joined by a coalition of more than 35 authors, including Khaled Hosseini, Maia Kobabe, and Molly Knox Ostertag, PEN America sent a letter to Rockingham County, Virginia schools protesting a recent ban on more than 50 books and urging that the district return these books to shelves. Books subject to “temporary removal” initiated on January 8 include: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Tricks by Ellen Hopkins, The Kite Runner by Hosseini, Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Heartstopper by Alice Oseman, and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonn ..read more

With the recent publication of her debut novel, poet and visual artist Rachel Eliza Griffiths adds novelist to her list of artistic achievements. In Promise (Random House, 2023), two young Black sisters come of age in a small New England town as the Civil Rights Movement builds momentum in the American South. Both together and separately, the sisters traverse family obligations, friendships, and budding levels of consciousness while navigating the everyday racism of their environment. As much as the novel is about resistance, it also digs deep to locate how to move forward in remembrance of th ..read more

  Last week, the movie The Color Purple garnered an Oscar nomination for Danielle Brooks as best supporting actress. Days later, its source material, the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning novel by Alice Walker, was permanently removed from schools in Clay County, Florida. The Color Purple is among the thousands of books that have been swept up in the wave of book banning documented by PEN America in the past several years; the novel has been pulled from shelves in at least three counties since 2021. Fellow Oscar nominee Killers of the Flower Moon has run into trouble in Oklah ..read more

Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner was among books a Texas teacher photographed before returning them to the district for “disposal.”   The school board in Brevard County, Florida, voted to retain The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut on Tuesday, a positive move in what has been a drawn-out review of dozens of books in the district.  Hosseini wrote a letter to the school board citing the letters he receives from students who gain empathy from the book.  “I am a parent myself,” he wrote. “I understand the parental impulse to safeguard our ch ..read more

It has come to this: Escambia County, Florida, schools have banned the dictionary.  Five dictionaries are on the district’s list of more than 1,600 books banned pending investigation in December 2023, along with eight different encyclopedias, The Guinness Book of World Records, and Ripley’s Believe it or Not – all due to fears they violate the state’s new laws banning materials with “sexual conduct” from schools.  Biographies of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, Nicki Minaj, and Thurgood Marshall are on the list, alongside The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Black Panther comics by ..read more

Others protesting book bans in schools and libraries across America have held up signs in protest. Grace Linn held up a quilt. The 101-year-old created the quilt that was displayed as she squared off against the Martin County School Board for banning 84 books. According to officials, the ban was the district’s effort to comply with a Florida Department of Education directive as part of the implementation of House Bill 1467. Linn still vividly remembers World War II, when books were banned and burned because they were written by people whom the people in power hated, or because the authors had ..read more

By Oscar Hokeah Embark upon a literary journey this Native American Heritage Month with a curated reading list by the acclaimed author Oscar Hokeah, winner of the prestigious 2023 PEN/Hemingway Award, the Truman Capote Scholarship Award from IAIA, and the Native Writer Award at the Taos Summer Writers Conference. Hokeah’s selections offer a rich tapestry of Native voices and perspectives. Explore the depth and diversity of Native American literature through this thoughtfully crafted collection, celebrating the profound contributions of indigenous writers to the literary landscape! Read more ..read more

(NEW YORK) – Today, singer-songwriter and global pop icon P!nk announced she will team up with the free expression organization PEN America and Florida bookseller Books & Books to give away 2,000 banned books at her upcoming concerts in Florida. As a mother of two who is deeply invested in education and in representation for all races and sexual identities, P!nk wanted to give away banned books to highlight the spike in book bans in Florida and across the country documented by PEN America.  “Books have held a special joy for me from the time I was a child, and that’s why I am unwillin ..read more

Collier County Public Schools in Florida is enraging parents for banning more than 300 books from its school libraries. The long list of titles includes a range of literary classics, books adapted into films and TV shows, young adult books, and in some cases, numerous titles by a single author. According to local reporting, the books were removed out of an effort to comply with Florida’s HB 1069, a law which broadened school board oversight of library collections, expanded mechanisms for challenging books, provided that content that “depicts or describes sexual conduct” is a valid reason for a ..read more

With the recent publication of her debut novel, poet and visual artist Rachel Eliza Griffiths adds novelist to her list of artistic achievements. In Promise (Random House, 2023), two young Black sisters come of age in a small New England town as the Civil Rights Movement builds momentum in the American South. Both together and separately, the sisters traverse family obligations, friendships, and budding levels of consciousness while navigating the everyday racism of their environment. As much as the novel is about resistance, it also digs deep to locate how to move forward in remembrance of th ..read more