PEN Points: Censorship attempts will have a long-lasting impact on school library collections

Censorship Attempts Will Have a Long-Lasting Impact on School Libraries, SLJ Survey Shows

There have always been book challenges, controversial titles, and fights over inclusive collections. But in the last year, school librarians have faced a bigger, broader, more coordinated, and hate-filled censorship campaign as politics and the country’s divisive culture wars have moved into school libraries.

In a survey conducted by School Library Journal, over 700 librarians weighed in about the impact of the coordinated censorship campaigns across the country on libraries and collection development decisions. The survey shows there is a largely public and performative aspect to the current censorship push, but more insidiously, there is a lasting impact on collections going forward. The removed books can be documented. What about the ones that never get purchased?

Learn more about how PEN America is fighting back against book bans and censorship next week for Banned Books Week 2022. We invite readers, authors, educators, librarians, and everyone who opposes censorship in America to get involved and help us #FreeTheBooks!

U.S. Free Expression Stories

“Wildfire of disinformation”: how Chevron exploits a news desert
As the closures of newspapers leave Americans struggling for information, Chevron has swooped in to serve up a mixture of local news and propaganda.
THE GUARDIAN

A verbal encounter with police at a Black Lives Matter protest led pregnant activist to 4-year prison sentence
Lawyers are pushing for a judge to reconsider the prison sentence of a South Carolina activist who was convicted for “breach of peace,” aggravated over remarks she made to police during racial justice protests in 2020.
CNN

How conservative Facebook groups are changing what books children read in school
Conservative Facebook groups that rate and review children’s books are being used as a way to campaign for restricting certain books in school libraries or removing them altogether. It’s the latest development in a debate tearing up the U.S. in recent weeks as schools open for the new year.
MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

The Latest from PEN America

SPEECH ITSELF, 2022, Light projection at Rockefeller Center, New York Text: Freedom to Write Index, © 2021 by PEN America. Used with permission of PEN America. © 2022 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY, Photo: Filip Wolak

SPEECH ITSELF: Jenny Holzer Installation at Rockefeller Center
Wednesday, Sept. 14 – Sunday, Sept. 18 | 8pm – 10pm ET
Rockefeller Center
45 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10111

SPEECH ITSELF, 2022, Light projection at Rockefeller Center, New York
Text: Freedom to Write Index, © 2021 by PEN America. Used with permission of PEN America.
© 2022 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY, Photo: Filip Wolak

There's still time for you to catch the renowned artist Jenny Holzer's SPEECH ITSELF, a celebration of PEN America’s century-long defense of the written word with a powerful new series of light projections. The facades of 30 Rockefeller Plaza and 610 and 620 Fifth Avenue will be lit with selected passages from gifted writers and artists who have supported PEN America’s vital work to protect free expression, including Ayad Akhtar, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Margaret Atwood, Ron Chernow, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Joy Harjo, Jhumpa Lahiri, Yoon Ha Lee, Toni Morrison, Alejandro Zambra, and Nadya Tolokonnikova of the performance art group Pussy Riot. Learn more and read coverage of the installation in Vogue and The Art Newspaper.

Words on Fire: Authors Sound Alarm to Defend Free Speech

As leading literary luminaries gathered to celebrate PEN America’s centenary at Monday’s symposium, the presence most deeply felt was that of the author unable to attend. Salman Rushdie had been set to speak at the event before a brutal assault in August left him recovering from grievous wounds. The discussion brought authors Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Margaret Atwood, Jennifer Finney Boylan and Dave Eggers to the stage at the New-York Historical Society, along with PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel and President Ayad Akhtar, the novelist and playwright, and with many other distinguished authors in the audience. Read our full recap of the event, and watch the livestream.

Court in India Urged to Release Writer Vernon Gonsalves, as His Health Worsens

Ahead of a bail hearing on Sept. 15, PEN America is calling for the immediate release from prison of Indian writer Vernon Gonsalves, due to his worsening health. Gonsalves is suffering from dengue as a result of his detention at Taloja Central Jail. PEN America urged authorities to release other writers and activists held in prison and to improve medical care for all prisoners. Read the statement.

Global Free Expression Stories

Mass firing at UAE newspaper raises question of censorship
The story about high fuel prices was safe, editors agreed, even under the strict press laws of the United Arab Emirates. Instead, it unleashed a firestorm at Al Roeya newspaper in Dubai. Within days, top editors were interrogated. Within weeks, dozens of employees were fired and the print paper declared dissolved.
AP

Iran woman's death after morals police arrest sparks protests
A young Iranian woman has died after falling into a coma following her detention by morality police enforcing Iran's strict hijab rules, sparking protests by Iranians on social media.
REUTERS

Myanmar: BBC Media Action presenter sentenced to three years hard labor
A freelance television presenter who worked for the BBC's charity branch has been sentenced to three years hard labor in Myanmar. Htet Htet Khine, the presenter of a programme produced by BBC Media Action for local audiences, was arrested in August 2021. Many journalists and activists have been jailed since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021.
BBC

Spotlight: Ivan Safronov

Investigative journalist Ivan Safronov was arrested on July 7, 2020 for allegedly passing along classified information to Czech intelligence (the Russian investigative outlet Proekt’s analysis of the indictment shows that the allegedly “classified” information was accessible in articles that were already in the public domain) and held in pretrial detention for over two years. For almost two years, he was prevented from seeing his relatives and denied full access to information about the accusations against him. The charges do not specify who he allegedly provided the materials to.

On September 5, 2022, Ivan Safronov was sentenced to 22 years in prison for “treason,” in addition to a 500,000-ruble fine and 2 years of “restricted freedom” once he is released from prison.

Below is an excerpt from Savronov’s final statement to the court:

The whole world will see that they want to put a journalist in jail for writing articles. To pass a guilty verdict means to end the topic of freedom of speech for a long time, if not forever, because there will be no speech, no freedom.

Read the statement and learn more about Safronov’s case.

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