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☆ ‘LibraryTok’ can be a comfort during challenging times for librarians and their fans
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-29 | by ( Sydney Bishop | Scottie Andrew | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

She’ll broadcast that process for her more than 450,000 followers once students leave the library and the school day is done. Miller’s account, “Meet Me in the Media Center,” is a fixture on “LibraryTok,” a community of creators who also happen to be librarians. “I think that bit of nostalgia wrapped into the sentiment of the library and hopefully a kind face all come together to make an inviting space to land on Library TikTok,” Miller said. Though her popularity was unexpected, it’s welcome, especially when she hears from commenters that she’s changing their impression of school libraries. Books, Miller said, are “windows and mirrors,” a concept introduced by famed children’s literature professor Rudine Sims Bishop.

Persons: CNN — Jen Miller doesn’t, Miller, she’s, “, ” Miller, Millennials, Cindy Hohl, ” Jen Miller, Jennifer Miller, cheerily, unboxes, There’s, “ Percy Jackson, ”, Miller’s, ‘, Heather, ” Grace, Grace, Tim Walz, Miller didn’t, Rudine Sims Bishop Organizations: CNN, Media Center, Pew Research, American Library Association, ALA, “, TikTok, PEN America, Lone Star, Democratic, Minnesota Gov Locations: ”, North Carolina, Texas, Florida, LibraryTok

☆ The next chapter in record U.S. book bans? ‘Soft censorship’
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-27 | by ( Jillian Eugenios | Jillian Eugenios Is A Senior Producer For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +10 min

In observance of Banned Books Week, which started Sunday and runs through Saturday, two new reports were released. Yasmin said she began writing the book in 2019 after thinking about how abortion bans affect teenagers. “So what we’re seeing is this censorship happening before the book is banned because of the draconian ecosystem that we’re living in,” she said. Dr. Seema Yasmin signing copies of her new book, “Unbecoming,” a young-adult novel published by Simon & Schuster. Its release during Banned Books Week was a coincidence, though Johnson acknowledges the book will likely be banned at some point.

Persons: David Shelley, Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, ”, Shelley, Aidan Chambers ’, ” Shelley, Hachette Shelley, “, you’re, George M, Johnson, ” Dr, Seema Yasmin, Seema Yasmin's, ’, ” Yasmin, Simon, Simon & Schuster, Yasmin, Katie Rinderle, Rinderle, can’t, Toni Morrison, ” Johnson, Leah Johnson, Reece T, Williams Leah Johnson, John Green, Judy Blume’s “, they’re, Leah Johnson’s Organizations: Hachette, U.S, PEN America, American Library Association, PEN, ALA, Alamy, Workman Publishing, American Civil Liberties Union, Simon &, ACLU Teachers, Associated Press, NBC News, Harlem Renaissance, Escambia County School District, Loudmouth Locations: Margaret, London, New York City, U.S, Thatcher’s Britain, Florida and Iowa, Dallas County, Georgia, Texas, Florida, Utah, county’s, PEN America, Oklahoma, Indianapolis, Indiana

Two reports released Monday provide a mixed but compelling outlook on the wave of book removals and challenges as the annual Banned Books Week begins for schools, stores and libraries nationwide. The ALA attributed the decline in book challenges in the first eight months of 2024, in part, to the work of anti-censorship activists and “success in courts” against laws that restrict book access. “But, you know, the First Amendment protects the rights of minors as well.”While the ALA’s report shows signs of book challenges abating, objections to certain titles still persist. Like the ALA, PEN said a large portion of the books targeted have racial or LGBTQ themes. It is supported by the ALA, PEN, the Authors Guild, the National Book Foundation and more than a dozen other organizations.

Persons: “, ” Deborah Caldwell, Stone, ” Caldwell, Toni Morrison’s “, Maia Kobabe’s, George M, shouldn’t, abating, Judy Blume, Margaret Atwood, ”, Kasey Meehan Organizations: American Library Association, PEN, Intellectual, Labor, ALA, “, NBC, New College of Florida, Utah State Board of Education, Read, Book Foundation Locations: PEN America, Florida and Iowa, United States, Nassau County , Florida, Utah, Florida

A school district in northeastern Florida must return three dozen books related to race and the LGBTQ community to school libraries as part of a settlement reached Thursday with authors, parents and students. The Nassau County School Board removed 36 books last year after the titles were challenged by Citizens Defending Freedom, a conservative advocacy group. The Nassau County School Board did not immediately return a request for comment. The suit was among several that challenged the removal of books by school districts across Florida under a law signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that made it easier for community members to challenge books they found to be inappropriate in school libraries.

Persons: Peter Parnell, Justin Richardson, Toni Morrison, Ellen Hopkins, ”, Lauren Zimmerman, Selendy, Parnell, Richardson, Sara Moerman, Toby Lentz, ” Zimmerman, Ron DeSantis, “ Organizations: Nassau County School, Citizens Defending, New, Zoo, “, Nassau County School Board, Republican Gov, First Coast, PEN America, PEN, NBC Locations: Florida, “, United States, Nassau County, New York, U.S, PEN America

☆ Opinion: Literary protest against the war in Gaza has gone off the rails
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-12 | by ( Opinion Ilene Prusher | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Ilene Prusher Jordana MillerBut something about this year’s Jerusalem International Writers Festival, which was held late last month, was off. The festival’s artistic director, Julia Fermentto-Tzaisler, thought about whether the beloved book festival should happen this year at all. A shadow over the literary worldExamples abound of how fallout from the ongoing war is casting a shadow over the literary world. To be sure, these are not the only cancelations the literary world has experienced related to the war; nor are Jewish writers the only ones who have faced controversy. From the start of this war, it seems I’m much more therapist than writer,” she read in a lilting Hebrew.

Persons: Prusher Jordana Miller, Julia Fermentto, —, ”, Baillie Gifford, Suzanne Nossel, “, Nicholas Kristof, Miriam Libicki, they’re, Sir Simon Schama —, Benjamin Netanyahu, ’, John Irving, Covid, Tzaisler, Harry Potter, Noya Dan, Eshkol Nevo, I’m Organizations: Florida Atlantic University, CNN, Jerusalem CNN, Writers, PEN America, PEN, AP, New York Times, Jerusalem Writers, soccer, European Championship, Columbia University, Hay Locations: Jerusalem, Gaza, Israel, Hay, Wye, Wales, Vancouver, Scotland, Europe, British, Iraq, Iraqi

☆ A Leading Free Expression Group Is Roiled by Dissent Over Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Jennifer Schuessler | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When PEN America celebrated its 100th birthday two years ago, it was a rousing if sober celebration of a nimble defender of free expression around the world. Once a small writers group best known for its staunch defense of imperiled writers in authoritarian regimes, it had become a leading fighter against book bans, educational gag orders and other surging threats across the United States. Today, amid spiraling protests over the Israel-Hamas war, battles over free speech are pitched as high as ever. But PEN America has found itself roiled, and at times hobbled, by escalating controversy over its response to the war. But far from quelling controversy, the cancellations have unleashed a war of words over just who is trying to silence, shame and bully whom.

Persons: Salman Rushdie Organizations: PEN America, PEN Locations: United States, Israel, New York

☆ Opinion | PEN America Has Stood By Authors. They Should Stand By PEN.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-28 | by ( Pamela Paul | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But too often, recent efforts to reform institutions have meant reconstituting them in ways that distort or fundamentally undermine their core mission. Nonprofit organizations, governmental agencies, university departments and cultural institutions have ousted leaders and sent their staffs into turmoil in pursuit of progressive political goals. The latest target is PEN America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to free expression by journalists and authors. This followed a refusal by several writers to have their work considered for PEN’s annual literary awards. According to its 21 signatories, mostly up-and-coming authors, “among writers of conscience, there is no disagreement.

Persons: George Floyd, Salman Rushdie, PEN’s, Suzanne Nossel, Jennifer Finney Boylan, ” Organizations: Nonprofit, PEN America, PEN Locations: Gaza, Israel

☆ PEN America Cancels World Voices Festival Amid Israel-Gaza Criticism
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-26 | by ( Jennifer Schuessler | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The free expression organization PEN America has canceled its annual World Voices Festival after a wave of participants withdrew, spurred by a boycott campaign led by writers who say the group’s response to the war in Gaza has been insufficiently critical of Israel. The festival, which was supposed to begin on May 8, was canceled on Friday, days after PEN America canceled the prize ceremony for its literary awards after nearly half of the nominees withdrew in protest. The festival, held in New York and Los Angeles, was to have included writers from around the world and dozens of panels, readings and events. In a news release, PEN America said it made the decision because a growing number of writers had pulled out of the festival, some because of differences with the group as well as some who said they had felt pressured to do so and felt “genuine fear.”“As an organization that cares deeply about the freedom of writers to speak their conscience, we are concerned about any circumstance in which writers tell us they feel shut down, or that speaking their minds bears too much risk,” the statement said. “Amid this climate, it became impossible to mount the festival in keeping with the principles upon which it was founded 20 years ago.”

Persons: PEN America, “, ” Organizations: PEN America, PEN Locations: Gaza, Israel, New York, Los Angeles

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University and Brown University have recently taken swift and decisive action against student protesters, including making arrests. And on Thursday, Columbia University hit its limit with student protesters who had set up dozens of tents on campus, sending in the New York Police Department to make arrests. Image At Columbia, officials cracked down on students who had erected tents on campus. Muncy for The New York TimesImage The New York Police Department arrested protesters at Columbia University. “But now we’re seeing that as an immediate response.”In her congressional testimony, Dr. Shafik revealed that 15 Columbia students have been suspended in recent weeks.

Persons: “, Santa J, Ono, ”, Nemat Shafik, Recalibrating, Rosy Fitzgerald, didn’t, Shafik, Nicole Hester, Donald J, Daniel Diermeier, Vanderbilt, “ They’re, Diermeier, —, Tracy Arwari, Ms, Arwari, Suzanne Nossel, Nossel, Amanda Andrade, Rhoades, Ezri Tyler, Tyler, Dan Korobkin, Colleen Mastony, Jacob Mchangama, Mr, Mchangama Organizations: University of, University of Michigan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , New York University, Brown University, Columbia University, New York Police Department, Columbia, Credit, The New York Times, Columbia University . Credit, The New York Times College, Republican, Institute for Middle, Vanderbilt, USA, Network Vanderbilt University, Pomona College, School, Pomona, PEN America, The New York Times Students, “, American Civil Liberties Union, ” Locations: Santa, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ,, Columbia, C.S, Muncy, Israel, Vietnam, Southern California, Pomona, “, Michigan, . Michigan

☆ Book bans are accelerating across the country amid right-wing pressure campaign
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

But, as they try to claim that mantle, many of those same forces in media and politics are behind a disturbing wave of book bans sweeping the nation. PEN America, a non-profit organization committed to protecting free expression, published an alarming report Tuesday indicating that the “book ban crisis” is only getting worse. “There were over 4,000 instances of book bans in the first half of this school year—more than all of last school year as a whole. In doing so, they have also disproportionately targeted books by women and nonbinary authors,” PEN America said. Ted Shaffrey/APSuch brazen book bans — unprecedented in modern American history — is at its worst in the red states of Florida and Texas.

Persons: New York CNN —, Nikole Hannah, Margaret Atwood’s, ” Amy Reed’s, Rupi, “, ”, ’ ‘, Ted Shaffrey, Ron DeSantis, Abdi Nazemian, I’ve, ” Nazemian, “ I’ve, ” Kasey Meehan, Read, we’re Organizations: New York CNN, PEN America, The New York Times, ” PEN America, Central Library, Brooklyn Public Library, PEN Locations: New York, USA, birthed, ’, New York City, Florida, Texas, In Florida, In Texas, Iranian, Iowa

☆ Book Bans Continue to Surge in Public Schools
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Alexandra Alter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Book bans in public schools continued to surge in the first half of this school year, according to a report released on Tuesday by PEN America, a free speech organization. The rise in book bans has accelerated in recent years, driven by conservative groups and by new laws and regulations that limit what kinds of books children can access. Since the summer of 2021, PEN has tracked book removals in 42 states and found instances in both Republican- and Democratic-controlled districts. The numbers likely fail to capture the full scale of book removals. PEN compiles its figures based on news reports, public records requests and publicly available data, but many removals go unreported.

Persons: — Organizations: PEN America, PEN, Republican

☆ He Was Blinded in One Eye, but Salman Rushdie’s Vision Is Undiminished
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Sarah Lyall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last May, nine months after the knife attack that nearly killed him, Salman Rushdie made a surprise appearance at the 2023 PEN America literary gala. His voice was weak and he was noticeably thinner than usual; one of his eyeglass lenses was blacked out, because his right eye had been blinded in the assault. But anyone wondering whether the author was still his old exuberant self would have been immediately reassured by the way he began his remarks, with a racy impromptu joke. “I want to remind people in the room who might not remember that ‘Valley of the Dolls’ was published in the same publishing season as Philip Roth’s ‘Portnoy’s Complaint,’” he said, riffing on an earlier speaker’s mention of Jacqueline Susann’s potboiler. It was also a triumphant signal that his brush with death — more than three decades after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s murder over the novel “The Satanic Verses” — had dampened neither his spirit nor his determination to live life in the open.

Persons: Salman Rushdie, Philip Roth’s ‘, ’ ”, riffing, Jacqueline Susann’s potboiler, Jacqueline Susann, Philip Roth’s, — “, ‘, Rushdie, Ruhollah Khomeini, — Organizations: PEN Locations: Iran

☆ Trump’s first criminal trial is a historic and solemn moment for America
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

The United States, unlike democracies that have been historically less stable, is not a nation accustomed to seeing its former heads of state on trial. This is one reason why Trump’s 2024 campaign is running as much through the courtrooms as according to the traditional rhythms of a White House bid. It’s very unfair that I’m having a trial there,” Trump said on Friday, alluding to New York City’s liberal lean. The deteriorating situation could bolster Trump’s claims the world is spinning out of control under his successor’s watch. Merchan has declined efforts by the president’s attorneys to get the trial relocated to a jurisdiction where voters may be more favorable to Trump.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, ”, Biden, Attorney Alvin Bragg, Juan Merchan, Judge Arthur Engoron, Joe Biden, “, that’s, Robert Hirschhorn, ” Trump, he’s, Nelson Mandela, Alexey Navalny, Bragg, Trump’s, Stormy Daniels, Daniels, ” Bragg, ” Trump’s, …, Norm Eisen, ” Eisen, Alvin Bragg, Jack Smith, Michael Cohen, Merchan, Cohen Organizations: CNN, Republican, Trump, Attorney, Democrat, Conservative Political, Conference, Biden, White House, Prosecutors Locations: United States, Manhattan, New York, Pennsylvania, Israel, Iran

☆ Opinion | The School Issues We’re Battling Over Aren’t the Ones That Matter
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Nicholas Kristof | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Florida school district, facing pressure about “nudity” in schools, removed from shelves a picture book that showed an illustration of a goblin’s bare bottom. Some students were saved from debauchery when school officials colored in a pair of pants on the goblin. “The freedom to read is under assault in the United States — particularly in public schools,” PEN America warned in a report last year. Listen to conservatives, and they argue that the crisis in American schools is the opposite: It’s about leftist teachers propagandizing on critical race theory and giving kids new pronouns while denying them safe bathrooms. Donald Trump has promised to defund “any school that’s pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity and any other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on our children.” He added: “This is what must be done to save our country from destruction.”

Persons: Donald Trump, defund, ” Organizations: ” PEN Locations: Florida, United States

☆ ‘Saturday Night Live’ star Colin Jost selected as White House Correspondents Dinner headliner
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Colin Jost will be live from Washington, DC — not New York — on the final Saturday night of April. The “Saturday Night Live” comedian, featured in the “Weekend Update” segments, was selected by the White House Correspondents’ Association as the entertainer for the press organization’s 2024 dinner, set to take place on April 27. “Colin Jost knows how to make Saturday nights funny, and I am thrilled Colin will be live from the nation’s capital as the headline entertainer for this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” said Kelly O’Donnell, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association and NBC News senior White House correspondent. Throughout his career he has nabbed five Writers Guild Awards and two Peabody Awards, in addition to 14 Emmy Awards nominations. After Wolf ignited controversy for a joke she made about then-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House Correspondents’ Association pivoted to a non-comedian headliner, inviting presidential biographer Ron Chernow to helm the dinner.

Persons: Colin Jost, Donald Trump, “ Colin Jost, Colin, ”, Kelly O’Donnell, Jost, Jamie McCarthy, PEN America “, ” O’Donnell, Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, Michelle Wolf, Wolf, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Ron Chernow, Roy Wood Jr Organizations: CNN, White, ’ Association, NBC News, White House, Peabody, PEN America, ’ Locations: Washington, New York

NEW YORK (AP) — Lorrie Moore, Naomi Klein and the Egyptian writer Ahmed Naji are among the finalists for National Book Critics Circle awards. Honorary prizes are going to Judy Blume and to a longtime ally of Blume's in the fight against book bans, the American Library Association. On Thursday, the critics circle announced nominees in seven competitive categories, ranging from fiction to debut book to best translation. The other fiction nominees are Justin Torres' “Blackouts,” winner of the National Book Award last fall; Teju Cole's “Tremor,” Daniel Mason's “North Woods”; and Marie NDiaye's “Vengeance Is Mine,” translated from the French by Jordan Stump. The book critics circle, founded in 1974, consists of hundreds of reviewers and editors from around the country.

Persons: — Lorrie Moore, Naomi Klein, Ahmed Naji, Judy Blume, Blume's, Moore, “, Justin Torres, ” Daniel Mason's “, Marie NDiaye's, Jordan Stump, Grace E, Tina Post's, ” Nicholas Dames, ”, Myriam Gurba's, Naji, Katharine Halls, Matthew Zapruder's “, ” Susan Kiyo Ito's, David Mas, Patricia Wakida, Jonathan Coe's Martin Luther King, Gregg Hecimovich, Hannah Crafts, Anna, Rachel Shteir's, Betty Friedan, Jonny Steinberg's, Winnie, Nelson, Saskia Hamilton's “, ” Kim Hyesoon's, ” Romeo Oriogun's, Robyn Schiff's, Kareem Abdulrahman, Natascha Bruce, Dorothy Tse's ”, Don Mee, Kim Hyesoon's, ” Todd, ” Maureen Freely’s, Tiffany, Indonesian Norman Erikson Pasaribu's, John Leonard, Ariana Benson's, ” Emilie Boone's, ” Victor Heringer's “, ” Tahir Hamut Izgil's, Donovan X, Martin J, Siegel's, Blume, Becca Rothfield, Marion Winik Organizations: American Library Association, Rotten, PEN America, U.S, Washington Locations: Egypt, Indonesian

NEW YORK (AP) — Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist and dissident who believes it his job to be “incorrect,” was hard at work Tuesday night during an appearance at The Town Hall in Manhattan. “I really like to make trouble,” Ai said during a 50-minute conversation-sparring match with author-interviewer Mira Jacob, during which he was as likely to question the question as he was to answer it. The event was presented by PEN America, part of the literary and free expression organization's PEN Out Loud series. Ai was in New York to discuss his new book, the graphic memoir “Zodiac,” structured around the animals of the Chinese zodiac, with additional references to cats. The book was not initiated by him, Ai said, and he was to let others do most of the work.

Persons: — Ai Weiwei, ”, “, ” Ai, Mira Jacob, Ai, Gianluca Costantini, Jacobs Organizations: PEN America, ”, Ten Speed Press, Chinese Communist Party Locations: Manhattan, New York, Portugal, Germany, Britain, China, London, Israel, United States

☆ How Jewish People Built the American Theater
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Jesse Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +46 min

Let Us Tell You A Story How Jewish people built the American theater as we know it. The theater, which for many Jews was a major way of becoming American in the first place, seems unable to acknowledge that the danger that American Jews face is not just historical, and not just onstage. (Both of Adler’s parents were Yiddish theater stars — her father, Jacob Adler, was a renowned Shylock in 1903.) Embedding their own observation and experience within Stanislavsky’s, along with the best of Yiddish theater and a generous dollop of Freud, they converted the American theater to Judaism. Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesThe Jewish contribution to the creation of the American theater was built on the acknowledgment of a larger humanity alive within each of us, available to some, with natural empathy and rigorous training.

Persons: Glocca, “, Lerner, Loewe, ”, Isidore Hochberg, Burton Lane, né Burton Levy, William Goldman, “ Killybegs, Sammy Davis Jr, Julie Andrews, Connie Francis, Rosemary Clooney, Tommy Dorsey, Davis, —, Arthur Miller’s “, joyously, Jason Schmidt, Christine Jones, Miller, I’ve, Marilyn Monroe, Robert Brustein, Neil Simon’s, ” Cynthia Ozick, Sholom, Philip Roth, Simon, Leonard Bernstein, Matt Nadel, Bradley, Bernstein, “ Maestro, Shylock, William Shakespeare’s “, Venice ”, Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe’s, Farah Karim, Cooper, Bard ”, “ Merchant, Tom Stoppard’s, Sara Krulwich, Ansky’s, Stella Adler, Bessie Berger, Clifford Odets’s, Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan, Francis Joseph Bruguière, Billy Rose, Eugene Smith, Roth, Arthur Schnitzler, Juliet Stevenson, Ruth Wolff, Lorraine Hansberry’s, Sidney’s, Alex Edelman’s “, Leo Frank, Bernard B, Frank, Mandy Patinkin, James Lapine, Stephen Sondheim’s, George, Martha Swope, outspokenness, creatives, Oscar Isaac, Sidney, “ Sidney Brustein, Isaac, Stevenson, Robert Icke, Roman Catholic Cooper, Rachel Brosnahan, Maisel, Joan Rivers —, Brosnahan, Sidney Brustein’s, Alec Guinness, Fagin, “ Oliver Twist, I’m, Micaela Diamond, Ben Platt, Lucille, Alfred Uhry, Jason Robert Brown’s, Rivers, Wolff, Robert, Republic ”, isn’t, LEE Strasberg, Konstantin Stanislavsky’s, Fyodor Ivanovich, Strasberg, Israel Strassberg, Zalmon, Srulke, Joseph Stein, Sheldon Harnick, Jerry Bock’s “, Bette Midler, Jackie Hoffman, Photofest Stanislavsky, Theater’s, Isaac Butler, Stanislavsky, Harold Clurman, George Bernard Shaw, Henrik Ibsen, Clurman, Adler, Jacob Adler, Freud, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Ruthie Rivkin, Jerome Weidman, Harold Rome’s “, John Weidman, disown Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, Bobby Lewis, né, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Meisner, Robert Duvall, Lewis, Meryl Streep, Clifford Odets, Jacob Garfinkle, Jules Garfield, Odets, Sam Feinschreiber, Garfield, Ralph Berger, wasn’t, John, Tovah Feldshuh, Golda Meir, William Gibson’s, Aaron Epstein, exigencies, Bessie, Feinschreiber —, loveless, William Fox, Louis B, Mayer, Jack Warner, Marjorie Morningstar ”, Morgenstern, Marjorie, Natalie Wood, Anne Frank ”, Millie Perkins, Audrey Hepburn, Susan Strasberg —, Ibsen, Sholom Aleichem, August Wilson, Daveed Diggs, Thomas Jefferson, Lin, Manuel Miranda’s “ Hamilton ”, Adrian Lester, Emanuel Lehman —, Barbra Streisand, Marmelstein, George Silk, Miller’s, Sophie Okonedo, Elizabeth Proctor, Ben Whishaw, John Proctor, Jan Versweyveld, Don’t, — Bernstein, Stoppard, Schnitzler, Jeanine Tesori, Tony Kushner’s “ Caroline, Sharon D Clarke, Adam Makké, Noah Gellman, Leo, Stoppard —, Hermine, ” Leo Frank, there’s, Matthew Broderick, Eugene Jerome, it’s, Edelman’s, Queens bigots, David Yosef Shimon ben Elazar Reuven Alexander Halevi Edelman, Woody Allen, Joshua Harmon’s, — George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Porgy, Bess ”, Barns, Alex Edelman, Paula Vogel, Harvey Fierstein, Jordan Taylor Fuller, — that’s, Wendell Pierce, Friedman, Jacobs, Hirschfeld, Gershwin, Rodgers, PAULA VOGEL, BRANDON URANOWITZ, DAVID CROMER, MICAELA DIAMOND, TONY KUSHNER, Diamond, Monica Rich Kosann, Marco Bicego, JESSE EISENBERG, MATTHEW BRODERICK, AMY HERZOG, LESLIE RODRIGUEZ KRITZER, JOEL GREY, Herzog, Michael Kors, Kritzer, Marco, HARVEY FIERSTEIN, LIEV SCHREIBER, ETHAN SLATER, IDINA MENZEL, TINA LANDAU Organizations: Broadway, Broadway’s Lyceum, “, of Venice, New York Times, Defamation League, New York Public Library, Performing, Vandamm, Billy, Billy Rose Theatre Division, Performing Arts, New, Jacobs, Empire State, Nazi, Goyim Defense, The New York Public Library, Roman Catholic, New York City, Street, Moscow Art, Group, Hollywood, Disney, Everett, The New York Times, Philadelphia, Brit, Times Locations: Poland, American, kilts, E.Y, Harburg, Kilkerry, Kildare, Philadelphia, New York, Polish, Massachusetts, Vichy, Biloxi, Venice, Malta, of, ”, Germany, playgoers, Sweden, England, United States, Pittsburgh, Nazi, Brustein’s, Greenwich, Georgia, Gutenberg, “, Atlanta, Republic, New, Konstantin Stanislavsky’s Moscow, Russian, America, Moscow, Stanislavsky’s, Clurman, Eastern Europe, Czech, Austrian, Auschwitz, Heini, Southern, Brighton, Rivers, French Republic, “ Brigadoon

☆ Opinion | The Problem of Campus Speech Is Even Harder Than You Think
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Jesse Wegman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +9 min

Examples abound of abhorrent speech by students and faculty members, mostly aimed at Israel, Jews and even Jewish students — and yet abhorrent does not equal criminal. By imposing speech codes that ban what they deem offensive speech without clearly defining it, they have encouraged illiberalism in an environment designed to cultivate the liberal arts. Administrators continue to face intense pressure to make statements and take sides, whether from students, faculty members, donors or lawmakers. “There’s no answer that will please everybody,” Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the Berkeley School of Law and an expert on free speech, told me. Obviously there are legal red lines to a culture of free speech: threats, intimidation and harassment, to name the obvious ones.

Persons: Harry Kalven Jr, “, ” Erwin Chemerinsky, Mr, Chemerinsky, he’s, Suzanne Nossel, ”, Nossel, —, Ron DeSantis Organizations: Cornell University, don’t, University of Chicago, Universities, Berkeley School of Law, Civil, PEN America, University of North, Texas Locations: Israel, Vietnam, Berkeley, University of North Carolina, Florida

☆ An Embarrassment of Witches
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Marjorie Ingall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

$17.99, ages 8 to 12) shares with Del the realization that self-love can be an act of resistance. Not only can her powers help save the world, but they may also heal her fractured Scottish family. Stories involving spirits and witches (including “Where the Wild Things Are,” “A Wrinkle in Time,” and the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series) have triggered book bans and challenges. These three novels are far more likely to be banned for featuring Black and Jewish characters than for witchcraft. Is it any wonder kids want to read about a magical world they have the power to improve?

Persons: Del, Eden Royce —, who’ve, ’ Lundy, Elle McNicoll’s, “, McNicoll, Harry Potter Organizations: Pond Press, PEN America Locations: South Carolina, Edinburgh

NEW YORK (AP) — Tens of thousands of books are being banned or restricted by U.S. prisons, according to a new report from PEN America. In its report, PEN found parallels between the frequency of prison bans and book bannings in schools and libraries. Texas, another frequent site of library bannings, had more than 10,000 prison book bans, second only to Florida. "Prison book programs have mostly tried to raise awareness locally when prisons implement new censorship restrictions for communities they serve," the report reads. In Idaho, Amazon and Barnes & Noble are not among the nine approved sellers, which include Books a Million and the Women's Prison Book Project.

Persons: Elmore Leonard, ”, Moira Marquis, Marquis, Michigan's, Frederick Forsyth's “, Charles de Gaulle, Amy Schumer’s, ” Barrington Barber's, Robert Greene's, Greene, ” Marquis, Noble, —, “ Organizations: PEN America, PEN, Michigan Department of Corrections, ”, Power, Barnes, Idaho Department of Correction, AP, Marshall Locations: Cuba, Spanish, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, New Mexico, Maine , Michigan, Idaho, Amazon, United States, State

☆ Scholastic says state book bans are causing an 'impossible dilemma' for its iconic book fairs
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Scholastic's iconic school book fairs are facing an "almost impossible dilemma." There'll now be a separate section for books dealing with race and gender at elementary school fairs that schools can opt out of. AdvertisementAdvertisementChildren's book publisher Scholastic says that state efforts to ban literary works that discuss gender or race are causing an "almost impossible dilemma" for the iconic book fairs that it has hosted at elementary schools across the United States for decades. AdvertisementAdvertisementSchools in all 50 states have already opted to include the "Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice" collection in their book fairs, according to Sparkman. Meanwhile, PEN America — a nonprofit that advocates for free expression — urged Scholastic to explore other options instead of partitioning book titles.

Persons: There'll, —, it'll, Ketanji Brown Jackson, John Lewis, Anne Sparkman, Sparkman, Cailey Myers, Myers, PEN America —, We're Organizations: Service, Scholastic, Republican, Supreme, Fairs, Florida's Department of Education, Florida Department of Education, PEN America, PEN Locations: United States, Georgia, Florida

NEW YORK (AP) — Salman Rushdie has a memoir coming out about the horrifying attack that left him blind in his right eye and with a damaged left hand. “This was a necessary book for me to write: a way to take charge of what happened, and to answer violence with art,” Rushdie said in a statement released Wednesday by Penguin Random House. The 256-page “Knife" will be published in the U.S. by Random House, the Penguin Random House imprint that earlier this year released his novel “Victory City,” completed before the attack. Political Cartoons View All 1206 Images“'Knife' is a searing book, and a reminder of the power of words to make sense of the unthinkable," Penguin Random House CEO Nihar Malaviya said in a statement. Rushdie wrote at length, and in the third person, about the fatwa in his 2012 memoir “Joseph Anton.”“This doesn’t feel third-person-ish to me,” Rushdie said of the 2022 attack in the magazine interview.

Persons: — Salman Rushdie, ” Rushdie, Rushdie, Hadi Matar, Ruhollah Khomeini, ”, Booker, Nihar Malaviya, David Remnick, “ Joseph Anton, “, that’s Organizations: Penguin Random, Chautauqua Institution, Random House, Penguin, PEN America, Random, Yorker Locations: New York, U.S

Central Florida CNN —Now that books are being banned and disappearing from school libraries, students and parents are showing up to school board meetings in Florida to argue for access to books that take on difficult subjects. Some school board lawyers are confused by the rules, and and those arguing for access have few ways to fight back. According to a PEN America study, more than 40% of book bans nationwide last school year happened in school districts in Florida. But for the spectacle to matter, a school board member had to declare the words were inappropriate for the crowd who came to hear them. … They should stay in the libraries.”Jacob Smith, who said he graduated from a county school in 2017, also addressed the board.

Persons: ” Trixie Meckley, she’d, ” she’d, Riley Kellogg, “, ” Kellogg, they’d, Merrick Brunker, Matt, Jodi Picoult, Josie, ”, Michael Marsh, Brunker, Kellogg, ” Jacob Smith, “ I’m, ” Smith, Jenifer Kelly, ” Jenifer Kelly, It’s, Mike, Liberty, ” Marsh, ‘, “ We’ve, Julie Miller, it’s, Liberty ”, ” Miller Organizations: Central, Central Florida CNN, Liberty, “, CNN, Google, PEN, HB, Liberty ”, Clay County Schools Locations: Central Florida, Florida, DeLand ,, PEN America, Orlando, Seminole County, River County, Volusia County, Seminole, Liberty “, Clay County, Clay

As a result, books like “Call Me Max” have been challenged or outright removed from schools and libraries in Florida, as well as other states — and though some believe book bans lead to more book sales, authors say the effect of those bans is devastating for their careers. These bans “overwhelmingly” target books about race and racism, as well as books with LGBTQ characters, PEN America said in its September study on school book bans. The MoveOn Banned Book Mobile stops for an event with local authors and teachers on October 1, 2023 in Decatur, Georgia. “(A book ban) would make news, and people would say, ‘I’ll buy this book just to show them,’” Lukoff said of the once-common result of book bans. Lukoff said his first high-profile bans occurred in early 2021, in Austin and Salt Lake City, when book bans first started to accelerate.

Persons: CNN —, Ron DeSantis, Max, ”, ‘, ” DeSantis, Max ”, Kyle Lukoff, Newbery, “ I’ve, —, ” Lukoff, “, ” Kyle Lukoff's, Marvin Joseph, Phil Bildner, ” “, Bildner, PEN America, Tasslyn Magnusson, Read, Derek White, Magnusson, ” Laurie Halse Anderson’s, George M, Deborah Caldwell, Stone, Angie Thomas, “ Maus, “ Maus ”, ” Magnusson, Lukoff, BookScan, Juno, Mike Curato’s “, John Green’s “, Samira Ahmed, Laura Gluckman, Armando L, Sanchez, Maus, ’ ” Lukoff, … that’s, they’re, she’s, haven’t, “ It’s, isn’t, Ahmed, ” Bildner, Caldwell, J.K, Rowling, Harper Lee, Art Spiegelman, ‘ Maus, ’ ”, Torrey Maldonado, ” Maldonado, who’ve, Eileen T, ’ ” Magnusson, ’, ” Ahmed, it’s, “ I’m, I’m, Maldonado, They’re Organizations: CNN, Florida Gov, Washington Post, PEN America, Liberty, Utah Parents United, Mobile, American, Association’s, Intellectual, ”, Association of American Publishers, Women, Chicago Tribune, Getty, America Locations: Florida, bookshelves, Rye, PEN, Utah, Decatur , Georgia, Tennessee, Alaska, Chicago, Sandmeyer's, Austin, Salt Lake City

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