Laurent Linn:
"It affects us all, no matter what state or country you live in"
Book bans can be overwhelming to understand and easy to feel helpless against. But as our moderator, Laurent was there to discuss the current state of book bans and acquire tools to fight back.
"But don't forget, there is much hope."
Laurent Linn: Let's start with introductions. Tell us who you are and what brought you to speak on this panel?
Keri Lambert is the Vice President of the Rutherford County Library Alliance in Rutherford County, Tennessee. In 2023, Rutherford County had a decency ordinance go into effect that basically made it illegal to be homosexual in public. Keri knew that that was not good, and thought everyone would be out marching in the streets, and nobody was. Then she realized they were using that decency ordinance to start censoring our libraries. That is when Keri, along with her comrades, started Rutherford County Library Alliance. They started with their public library board, then their school board who started to ban even more books. They have been fighting on a local and state level, as most of the fights that are local are coming from state law. RCLA has testified and were able to stop two of those anti-library bills from passing which they celebrate those wins because there's so much. Tennessee has had nearly 1,400 books removed in the last year. RCLA are here to support their librarians because the librarians are being "threatened, harassed, intimidated. And they can't speak up for themselves. So we exist to support our librarians, as well as support our community. And the freedom to read."
Dan Novack is the Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Penguin Random House and it's been his privilege to work on book bans the last couple years. They are plaintiffs in four lawsuits at the moment, in three different states. They are supporting about a dozen other cases nationwide through information sharing and helping to connect people.
"We've been trying to help states that want to do the right thing, to channel that instinct in a productive way. We've been trying to talk to states that are trying to still do the bad thing, don't get me wrong. They're hard to dissuade."
He spoke about Rhode Island recently passing a bill. There's no models that were existing for how to pass a good law for Freedom to Read and though it is kind of assumed because of the First Amendment, and that you wouldn't need a fancy state law for it, now is no longer the case.
It's been "eye-opening" the last couple years but they've been involved in writing and helping to support these bills, and other "little rays of sunshine" in an otherwise difficult environment.
Laurent Linn: What is book banning? What does that mean? It's a general term that is used accurately, and inaccurately. There's challenges, there's censorship. There's a lot of discussion. Can you break this down?
Keri Lambert:
"The media really likes to use the term "book banning" but I've been working really hard here on classifying it as restricting access to information...You're guaranteed the right to access information."
And some people might respond that it isn't "banned" if you can order it on Amazon but that sentiment comes from a privileged place because not every child has the opportunity to go to a store, or money to order books. And they are put at a disadvantage to access those materials due to the lack of resources. You have a right to browse. You can't prevent anyone from accessing what they want. So, we really like to rephrase it to restricting access to information, and you can't do that.
Dan Novack:
"We're getting calls from academic buyers, asking 'Do you have a safe list? Can you give me a list of the books that are not going to get anyone in trouble here?' And, you know, our response is 'If we gave something like that to you, that would imply the existence of the dirty list, right?"So, they haven't supplied a list like that, but that's the pressure they're feeling.
Four years ago, during the Black Lives Matter protests, it really intensified. That is when Dan saw the earliest book bans on college campuses, where authors were getting disinvited. And then it metastasized into what we're seeing now, venturing out into anti-LGBT, where "sex" is being treated as a special category of material. "That is ostensibly neutral, but it is really just this one neat trick that they figured out can eliminate all the LGBT books, because they're coming-of-age stories" which may have some sexual content. And so, what it amounts to is a flattening. It says everything about sex is conceptually inappropriate. When you eliminate a book with a single reference to sex, regardless of what context it's in, regardless of what else is in the book, that book has to be pulled in states like Iowa, Idaho, Florida. Utah, South Carolina—the list goes on and on.
They don't care that that creates a list of hundreds or even thousands of individual titles in those states. It's like a nuclear bomb that they drop, because they're really upset about a handful of titles that the conservative movement, Moms for Liberty, has deemed unacceptable for anyone. It's this outsized reaction.
And people don't understand or appreciate that kids don't buy books. They require intermediaries- that's parents, educators, librarians. It's a trusted category of people. Nonetheless, they're being disempowered, and because they are the intermediaries, people don't understand that the livelihood of the children's book author and illustrator community is in these spaces. And if you eliminate their right to access the material, in the way that they are supposed to access it, it's coming after free speech.
And on the flip side of it, as authors and illustrators, you really are supposed to have the right to do whatever you want, unless it touches a very specific category. Which is pornography, or better understood in the law, as obscenity. So that is why you see the word pornography thrown around, because it takes the First Amendment out of the equation. And once it's out of the equation, we can do what we wish with it. We can ban it, we can criminalize it, even. And so that is why everything gets shunted into that category, because otherwise the author and illustrator have the First Amendment right. And their right to speak is co-extensive with the right to be read. That's your right to access the material, your right to speak.
And the work is calibrated for the understanding and comfort of the grade it is intended for. These challenges don't care about the work of the authors and the publishers to make sure that the material's calibrated for their intended audience. They don't care that there are professional reviews. So it's all about flattening and making it a binary. Sex or no sex.
Laurent Linn: Lightning round. Words of hope.
Keri Lambert:
"First of all, show up. I swear it makes a huge difference. Just show up. At your local public library, board meetings, school board meetings, committee meetings, your state legislator."
"Show up, hold a sign, put your hand up. I held my hand up for an hour, and they gave me 3 minutes on the floor to speak to them."
"The other thing that really helps is to get a library card. Get multiple library cards for all the libraries in your area, and check books out. Check out the books that have LGBTQ+ themes. Get books that are written by persons of color, that are telling whatever stories tend to get restricted in your community. Sign them out regularly. Get your friends to sign them out, because circulation numbers can affect whether a book is removed from your library or not. So, get a library card and check out books."
Dan Novack:
"Talk to kids. There are high school students that are plaintiffs suing their state governments. I think for the first time ever. They're the brightest, most impressive young people I've ever met. If we can just turn over this country or this planet to them, like, mildly intact, they will do great things with it. So the more we look to the young people to talk about what they want to see and read, and how they know how to think for themselves."
"Hear from the kids directly. We're all talking about kids, but we don't really bring them into the conversation a lot. But there are people in your communities that are outstanding self-advocates themselves. And they're incredibly energizing to be around, and part of my ability to sustain the work that I've been doing emotionally is that I love these kids."
Laurent Linn:
That's a wonderful note to end on, and they are also our superheroes. That's why we do what we do. Thank you all. This has been enlightening, inspiring, horrifying, everything we can think of.
But so important, and truly, your expertise and everything you've all had to say is invaluable. Thank you.
Sarah Baker:
Thank you, everyone. Um, your passion on the topic just made it so powerful. We all have more to talk about with everyone in your community, in your circles, and I just want to echo what everyone said, to get out in real life. Take any kind of action. Especially after hearing all of the very real repercussions of restricting access to information for young people. Thank you all so much!
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