UNbanned Books: Fighting Book Bans
Sarah Baker, our fabulous SCBWI Executive Director, welcomed us all with this kickoff panel of the 2024 SCBWI Summer Conference; a transparent, yet inspiring chat about the landscape of the book banning.
Moderated by Arthur Levine, the panelists were:
Kyle Zimmer - President, CEO and Co-founder, First Book
Maggie Tokuda-Hall - Author
Lee Rowland, - Executive Director, National Coalition Against Censorship
Betsy Gomez - Assistant Director of Communications & Outreach, Unite Against Book Bans and the American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom
Right off the bat, Betsy Gomez shared several statistics that were truly eye-opening, illustrating the trends and effects of book bans in recent history. Over the past few years, there has been more and more movement toward banning books with little to no evidence of "obscenity" or "pornography."
Arthur Levine even shared that Levine Querido had experienced a 50% drop in income/revenue directly attributed to book bans.
What I did appreciate was how Betsy put it into context and related it to other times in history when materials were banned, giving examples like the attempted ban on comic books in the 50s or the "morality crisis" in the 80s. It showed us the bigger picture but also gave us hope that there is change on the horizon if we stand together for we've fought for our rights in the past and will do so again.
But amidst all of the stark data, Arthur urged us to "refuse to let the publishing climate change what we create or the passion for our books and creators. Our livelihood is your livelihood."
"Make books and bring them to the people who want them."
"Much of this is directed toward the least empowered groups in our country. If we want to close the gap between the privileged and unprivileged groups, we need books to reflect our diversity."
One of my favorite quotes came from Maggie Tokuda-Hall, who then shared an article with the attendees:
"Do not obey in advance"
Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Such a good reminder: Do not censor yourself.
"You must say what you want to say. You must tell your story because that is always going to be more powerful and compelling than anything else. There are publishers out there who will be open-you can find passion, and brave people everywhere. That is the key." - Arthur Levine
Get involved however you can!
- Buy banned books (See Panelist Bookshop Picks)
- Check the book out from the library (It tells the system that "you can't ban this book, people want it!")
- Circulate the book (Ask your library to buy the book if their budget allows)
Below are some resources shared throughout the panel. This will definitely require a rewatch because it was jam-packed with excellent information and ways to combat these book bans in order to thrive and strive!
RESOURCES AND QUICK LINKS
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRyXKZt5QpRDqD4cq17bUccIyY2rk-e2eXE8vJ6TbILF3k0GbnSv--CZ9EgMtBjVUDdMTQ6h3QiR4dT/pub
American Library Association (Challenge Reporting)
https://www.ala.org/tools/challengesupport/report
American Library Association (Banned and Challenged Books)
https://www.ala.org/bbooks
UNBanning Books Panelists Picks
https://bookshop.org/lists/unbanning-books-panelists-picks?
Unite Against BookBans
https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/
Unite Against BookBans (Action Toolkit)
https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/toolkit/
National Coalition Against Censorship
https://ncac.org/
National Coalition Against Censorship (Right 2 Read Network)
https://ncac.org/project/right2read
Authors Against Book Bans
https://www.authorsagainstbookbans.com/
https://lithub.com/resist-authoritarianism-by-refusing-to-obey-in-advance/
The conference kicks off tomorrow!
Register for the 2024 Virtual Summer Conference at www.scbwi.org
Arthur Levine
Author, EditorAbout
Arthur A. Levine is the President and Editor-in-Chief of Levine Querido, an independent publisher founded in 2019 to seek out and publish exceptional books that come from places and people who have historically been overlooked. Folks say he’s a nice guy with excellent taste and a strong moral center. Visit his website at www.levinequerido.com to learn more.
https://www.levinequerido.com/
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