After a busy 2023 defending the freedom to read, PEN America has announced that a new “investment” from publisher Scholastic will enable the organization to offer more support for authors facing books bans—with an emphasis on children’s book authors and illustrators.
In a release, PEN officials said the new investment will help PEN America continue its “provision of rapid-response support for authors,” as well as support the group’s “ongoing efforts to galvanize readers, writers, the publishing industry, and the general public in support of the freedom to write and to read.
Specifically, PEN said that new “seed funding” from Scholastic will help the organization inform authors “when and where their books are banned,” provide information and resources on how to fight back, as well strategies for “digital safety in the face of online hate and harassment.” While Scholastic authors will benefit from more “individualized support” under the program, PEN officials said the “lessons and resources created” through the Scholastic-funded program will be made widely available to any author in need.
“We are deeply appreciative of this gift and our ongoing partnership with Scholastic,” said Kasey Meehan, PEN America’s freedom to read program director. “It’s vital that we continue to raise public awareness, support the authors targeted, and protect the freedom to read and write for all. Joining forces with authors, publishers, students, parents, educators, librarians, and readers to fight back is a necessary step to push back the tide of censorship.”
News of the investment comes after Scholastic officials in October apologized in October for offering an optional collection of diverse books at its book fairs, amid criticism that the effort was aiding censorship, and promised to “redouble our efforts to combat the laws restricting children’s access to books.”
In 2023, PEN America continued to its work alongside authors and publisher to combat attacks on the freedom to read, including a host of key reports, and legal support.
In a major victory last week, PEN America and a coalition of fellow plaintiffs (Penguin Random House along with four bestselling authors—Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, Malinda Lo, and Jodi Picoult—five plaintiffs from the state of Iowa, and the Iowa State Education Association) successfully sued to block a new Iowa state law, SF 496, a law that would ban books with depictions of sex, and prohibit instruction involving “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” for students through sixth grade.
PEN American is also a direct plaintiff in a lawsuit in Escambia County, Florida, over school book bans, a case that is set to heat up later this month.
Since 2021, PEN has tracked nearly 6,000 book bans impacting books by over 2,000 writers in public schools and libraries in over 40 states, with “a particularly pernicious effect” on authors from historically marginalized communities.
