The Independent Book Publishers Association and EveryLibrary Institute have teamed up for We Are Stronger Than Censorship, a program to supply diverse books to young readers and counteract book banning efforts. Cocreated by IBPA chief content officer Lee Wind and EveryLibrary fellow Tasslyn Magnusson, the program has begun fundraising and bringing publisher and bookstore partners on board. It launches publicly on September 9, in anticipation of Banned Books Week, September 22–28.

We Are Stronger Than Censorship operates on what Wind called an “offset” model, putting books into circulation in response to banning efforts. “For every book banned or challenged between September 1 and September 30, 2024, We Are Stronger Than Censorship will buy two or more books from independent publishers and donate them via regional freedom to read organizations,” IBPA and EveryLibrary said in an announcement. Since WASTC estimates more than 830 bans per month, this means providing around 2,000 books per month to states’ Freedom to Read Projects.

“We’re actually thinking of this as a yearlong program, but right now, we’re doing a count for September,” Wind said. “I would love to see this get bigger, to the point where people so quick to ban books are reluctant because it will fuel donations of books that feed diversity. I’d like to make them realize they’re having the opposite impact of what they intend.”

In addition, as WASTC grows, Wind and Magnusson plan to post “weekly shopping lists of the most recently banned or challenged titles for children, for teens, and for adult,” Wind added. “That way, people can directly buy copies of those books for themselves or donate books that have been tagged.”

Wind and Magnusson are in the process of signing up indie stakeholders, identifying inclusive titles for WASTC’s book list, purchasing those titles in bulk, and coordinating with organizations—presently the Florida, Texas, and Wisconsin Freedom to Read Projects—to distribute the books at community fairs, Pride events, and other venues. So far, Candlewick Press, Charlesbridge, the Collective Book Studio, Just Us Books, Lerner, Levine Querido, and Microcosm Publishing have each named a title to the list, and WASTC hopes to enlist 20 indie publishers to nominate books for their September set.

“Not every one of the books the publishers gave us, that we chose, is their most banned title,” Wind said. “We ask them for some options so that the math works for them, and some publishers are willing to donate the shipping costs, because then there is more that can go into a pool for authors.”

WASTC must cover the overhead for the EveryLibrary Institute, which is the project’s fiscal sponsor, while setting aside a fund for authors, who earn lower royalties on bulk sales. Public and private supporters can also buy merchandise, including branded shirts, to support the project.

Wind is the author of multiple books on LGBTQ themes and history, including The Gender Binary Is a Big Lie (Lerner/Zest) and the YA novel A Different Kind of Brave (Chicago Review Press), and a member of Authors Against Book Bans. Magnusson, a writer and right to read advocate, is a senior independent researcher with PEN America. As WASTC’s public launch nears, they are creating content around book banning and planning virtual author panels for September related to the books they’re featuring for the program.

Wind thinks a battle against censorship can be waged with a change in mindset. “People feel powerless, yet there is a ton they can do,” he said. “We always play defense, and what Tasslynn and I are trying to do is ask, ‘How do we play offense?’ We’ve given so much power” to book banners, yet “we have been making progress, and a lot of it is through indie presses.”

As examples of indie change makers, Wind named Just Us Books, founded by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson to better represent Black children, and Levine Querido, whose sales to schools and libraries dipped due to banning efforts, and whose aim is to spotlight underrepresented identities. “There’s an educational piece” to We Are Stronger Than Censorship, Wind said. “We want people to understand that indie publishers are drivers of diversity.”