Books

Publishers Weekly - In a report ... PEN America officials said that the organization has counted more than 10,000 cases of book censorship in public schools during the 2023-2024 school year, nearly triple the number from the previous school year, when PEN America recorded 3,362 bans nationwide. PEN officials said that new state-level rules and legislation are the key drivers of the bans, with nearly 8,000 book bans recorded in Florida and Iowa, where two sweeping new laws have broadly targeted books that contain any sexual content.

Among the report’s key findings, PEN America researchers found that, as in previous years, books were “targeted for including diverse perspectives,” with banned books “overwhelmingly” featuring stories with people or characters of color and/or LGBTQ+ people. The organization also observed an increase in book bans targeting “stories by and about women and girls and/or that include depictions of rape or sexual abuse.”