Breaking news on authors, publishers, and book-related topics

‘Freedom Libraries’ aim to transform prisons, 500 books at a time

Mar 25 2022: Poet Reginald Dwayne Betts’s first-of-its kind library now sits in the National Building Museum. The signature Freedom Library created by the MacArthur fellow, poet and lawyer offers people for the first time a chance to see libraries just like it that are being ...

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Poll finds public broadly opposes book banning efforts

Mar 25 2022: By large majorities, American say they oppose recent efforts to remove books from schools and libraries, and say they trust librarians to make appropriate collection decisions. The news comes from a national poll commissioned by the American Library Association, ...

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The free speech and First Amendment debate

Mar 24 2022: Shelf Awareness provides a useful overview of the free speech and First Amendment debates currently roiling the USA:

In the last week, two pieces in the New York Times have explored or touched on the issue of free speech.

Last Friday, a Times editorial entitled "...

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National Book Critics Circle Award Winners

Mar 18 2022: The winners of the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Awards were announced last night. The NBCC Awards include seven awards for books and three for reviewers. You can see all seven book winners on BookBrowse:

• Autobiography: Gay Bar: Why We Went Out by Jeremy ...

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Penguin Random House creates banned books resources hub

Mar 15 2022: Penguin Random House has created a Banned Books Resources Hub that includes tools, materials and information that can help people and organizations fighting book bans including resources for teachers, librarians, parents, students and authors/illustrators.

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Book the Vote: writers, booksellers and libraries collaborate to register voters

Mar 14 2022: Writers for Democratic Action is launching Book the Vote, with the aim of registering more voters, particularly in battleground states, before the November elections. The effort will take place in bookstores and libraries, where nonpartisan voter registration tables ...

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Assistant principal fired for reading children’s book "I Need a New Butt!" to second-graders

Mar 11 2022: When a guest who was scheduled to read to second-graders over Zoom this month didn’t show up, Toby Price, the assistant principal at a Mississippi elementary school, improvised.

Price’s boss at Gary Road Elementary School suggested Price read to the students, so he ...

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Texas Library Association forms coalition to battle book bans

Mar 09 2022: The Texas Library Association has announced the formation of a grassroots coalition, Texans for the Right to Read, to "amplify and unify the voices of librarians, educators, parents, students, authors, and others" who oppose the growing effort to ban books from schools ...

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