#bookbanning — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #bookbanning, aggregated by home.social.
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The Censor Keeps a Copy
Twenty years ago, give or take, a friend told me a story he expected me to admire. He was a Latter-day Saint who worked in technology, and he was, as I understood it then, the bishop of his ward, an unpaid office the church gives to laymen who keep their day jobs, so he kept a company's hours all week and presided over a congregation on Sundays. There was a Mormon bookstore he went into often, and one day he walked in and found a new display for Goosebumps, the paperbacks with the dripping green logo about haunted masks, a ventriloquist's dummy with a mind of its own, and a werewolf in a Florida swamp. He spoke to the owner. The owner told him the books were selling well and that those sales were keeping the store alive. My friend pressed him on content, judged the whole series blasphemous, an invitation to the occult at a child's price, and let it be understood that if the titles stayed on the shelf a report would go to the stake president. A week later he came back. The books were gone, the owner was distant and cold, and my friend bought a couple of books, in his own phrase, to make up the difference. He told me this the way another man might tell you he had coached his kid's team to a championship. He was proud. The word I have settled on, twenty years later, is forensic: he had investigated, prosecuted, and won, and he walked out of that store on the high of it. […] -
The Censor Keeps a Copy
Twenty years ago, give or take, a friend told me a story he expected me to admire. He was a Latter-day Saint who worked in technology, and he was, as I understood it then, the bishop of his ward, an unpaid office the church gives to laymen who keep their day jobs, so he kept a company's hours all week and presided over a congregation on Sundays. There was a Mormon bookstore he went into often, and one day he walked in and found a new display for Goosebumps, the paperbacks with the dripping green logo about haunted masks, a ventriloquist's dummy with a mind of its own, and a werewolf in a Florida swamp. He spoke to the owner. The owner told him the books were selling well and that those sales were keeping the store alive. My friend pressed him on content, judged the whole series blasphemous, an invitation to the occult at a child's price, and let it be understood that if the titles stayed on the shelf a report would go to the stake president. A week later he came back. The books were gone, the owner was distant and cold, and my friend bought a couple of books, in his own phrase, to make up the difference. He told me this the way another man might tell you he had coached his kid's team to a championship. He was proud. The word I have settled on, twenty years later, is forensic: he had investigated, prosecuted, and won, and he walked out of that store on the high of it. […] -
The Censor Keeps a Copy
Twenty years ago, give or take, a friend told me a story he expected me to admire. He was a Latter-day Saint who worked in technology, and he was, as I understood it then, the bishop of his ward, an unpaid office the church gives to laymen who keep their day jobs, so he kept a company's hours all week and presided over a congregation on Sundays. There was a Mormon bookstore he went into often, and one day he walked in and found a new display for Goosebumps, the paperbacks with the dripping green logo about haunted masks, a ventriloquist's dummy with a mind of its own, and a werewolf in a Florida swamp. He spoke to the owner. The owner told him the books were selling well and that those sales were keeping the store alive. My friend pressed him on content, judged the whole series blasphemous, an invitation to the occult at a child's price, and let it be understood that if the titles stayed on the shelf a report would go to the stake president. A week later he came back. The books were gone, the owner was distant and cold, and my friend bought a couple of books, in his own phrase, to make up the difference. He told me this the way another man might tell you he had coached his kid's team to a championship. He was proud. The word I have settled on, twenty years later, is forensic: he had investigated, prosecuted, and won, and he walked out of that store on the high of it. […] -
The Censor Keeps a Copy
Twenty years ago, give or take, a friend told me a story he expected me to admire. He was a Latter-day Saint who worked in technology, and he was, as I understood it then, the bishop of his ward, an unpaid office the church gives to laymen who keep their day jobs, so he kept a company's hours all week and presided over a congregation on Sundays. There was a Mormon bookstore he went into often, and one day he walked in and found a new display for Goosebumps, the paperbacks with the dripping green logo about haunted masks, a ventriloquist's dummy with a mind of its own, and a werewolf in a Florida swamp. He spoke to the owner. The owner told him the books were selling well and that those sales were keeping the store alive. My friend pressed him on content, judged the whole series blasphemous, an invitation to the occult at a child's price, and let it be understood that if the titles stayed on the shelf a report would go to the stake president. A week later he came back. The books were gone, the owner was distant and cold, and my friend bought a couple of books, in his own phrase, to make up the difference. He told me this the way another man might tell you he had coached his kid's team to a championship. He was proud. The word I have settled on, twenty years later, is forensic: he had investigated, prosecuted, and won, and he walked out of that store on the high of it. […] -
The Censor Keeps a Copy
Twenty years ago, give or take, a friend told me a story he expected me to admire. He was a Latter-day Saint who worked in technology, and he was, as I understood it then, the bishop of his ward, an unpaid office the church gives to laymen who keep their day jobs, so he kept a company's hours all week and presided over a congregation on Sundays. There was a Mormon bookstore he went into often, and one day he walked in and found a new display for Goosebumps, the paperbacks with the dripping green logo about haunted masks, a ventriloquist's dummy with a mind of its own, and a werewolf in a Florida swamp. He spoke to the owner. The owner told him the books were selling well and that those sales were keeping the store alive. My friend pressed him on content, judged the whole series blasphemous, an invitation to the occult at a child's price, and let it be understood that if the titles stayed on the shelf a report would go to the stake president. A week later he came back. The books were gone, the owner was distant and cold, and my friend bought a couple of books, in his own phrase, to make up the difference. He told me this the way another man might tell you he had coached his kid's team to a championship. He was proud. The word I have settled on, twenty years later, is forensic: he had investigated, prosecuted, and won, and he walked out of that store on the high of it. […] -
A quotation from Kurt Vonnegut
And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.
So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007) American novelist, journalist
Essay (2004-08-06), “I Love You, Madame Librarian,” In These Times Magazine, Vol. 29, No. 20 (2004-08-30)More about this quote: wist.info/vonnegut-kurt-jr/840…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #vonnegut #kurtvonnegut #kurtvonnegutjr #bookbanning #bookburning #censorship #freedomofthought #librarians #library #privacy
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A quotation from Madeleine L'Engle
We need to dare disturb the universe by not being manipulated or frightened by judgmental groups who assume the right to insist that if we do not agree with them, not only do we not understand but we are wrong. How dull the world would be if we all had to feel the same way about everything, if we all had to like the same books, dislike the same books.
Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DCMore about this quote: wist.info/lengle-madeleine/826…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #madeleinelengle #bookbanning #books #censor #censorship #disagreement #disapproval #disturbance #judgmental #reading #unruliness
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Censorship: PRH’s ‘Banned Wagon’ Goes to Washington
Handing out copies of books banned by right-wing censorship efforts, the PRH 'Banned Wagon' is in its third tour of duty.
The post Censorship: PRH’s ‘Banned Wagon’ Goes to Washington appeared first on Publishing Perspectives.
https://publishingperspectives.com/2025/10/censorship-prhs-banned-wagon-goes-to-washington/#BookBanning #Censorship #CriticalThinking #FreedomofExpression #FreedomtoPublish
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PEN America’s Censorship Report: ‘A Disturbing Normalization’ of Book Bans
The leading message of this year's PEN America 'Banned in the USA' report is about an insidious rise in 'normalization' of censorship.
https://publishingperspectives.com/2025/10/pen-americas-new-censorship-report-a-disturbing-normalization-of-book-bans/#BookBanning #Censorship #CriticalThinking #FreedomofExpression #FreedomtoPublish
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Publishers, Authors Win New Court Ruling Against Florida’s Book-Banning ‘House Bill 1069’
Effectively ending the book banning provisions in Florida House Bill 1069,' a new ruling is cheered by publishers and authors.
https://publishingperspectives.com/2025/08/publishers-authors-win-ruling-against-florida-book-banning-law/#BookBanning #Censorship #FreedomofExpression #FreedomtoPublish #FreedomtoRead
@indieauthors -
Book Bannings: Pen America Reports on School Libraries Pulling Titles
Area news reports indicate that county school systems may be reacting to state-level intimidation.
https://publishingperspectives.com/2025/08/book-bannings-pen-america-reports-on-school-libraries-pulling-titles/#BookBanning #Censorship #FreedomofExpression #FreedomtoPublish #FreedomtoRead
@indieauthors -
At Norway’s WEXFO: ‘Democracies Depend on Reading’
Europe's DemRead project—'Democracies Depend on Reading'—launches in the autumn. The World Expression Forum has an update.
The post At Norway’s WEXFO: ‘Democracies Depend on Reading’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives.
https://publishingperspectives.com/2025/05/at-norways-wexfo-democracies-depend-on-reading/#BookBanning #FrankfurtBookFair #FreedomofExpression #FreedomtoPublish #FreedomtoRead
@indieauthors -
IPA on Reported Moscow Arrests: ‘The Risks Publishers Now Face in Russia’
The International Publishers Association alerts its world membership to reports of Russian actions against 'LGBT propaganda.'…
https://publishingperspectives.com/2025/05/ipa-on-reported-moscow-arrests-the-risks-publishers-now-face-in-russia/#BookBanning #Censorship #FreedomofExpression #FreedomtoPublish #GvantsaJobava
@indieauthors -
The GOP's version of Free Speech (censoring speech they don't like) is backfiring on them.🧵1/3
#BookBanning #Censorship #CRT #SchoolBoards #EduTwitter #LibraryTwitter #BookBans #ABlueView