Poets & Writers Theater

In this PBS Books virtual event celebrating the release of the fortieth anniversary edition of The House on Mango Street, published by Everyman’s Library, author Sandra Cisneros discusses the novel and how it has touched many lives and affected the literary landscape in a conversation with Heather-Marie Montilla.

In this special edition of the Banned Book Club series hosted by the New York Public Library, Sonora Reyes discusses their award-winning debut novel, The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School (Balzer + Bray, 2024), which tells the story of a queer Mexican American girl navigating her way through Catholic school.

“Freedom of expression is everything.” In this PEN America video, family members of George M. Johnson read and reflect on a letter from the author in response to a call to ban their book, All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020), and other books from a library in New Jersey, just miles from where Johnson grew up.

“Books aren’t dangerous. At least, they’re not dangerous to those of us who want to create an equitable and just society,” says author Ibram X. Kendi in this Washington Post video which takes a look at the history and common themes of banned books in America.

“Read the books they don’t want you to. That’s where the good stuff is,” says LeVar Burton in this video from The Daily Show With Trevor Noah on some of the latest banned children’s books which include themes on race and racism, and LGBTQIA+ characters.

“Terrorism must not terrorize us. Violence must not deter us. The struggle goes on.” At the 2023 PEN America Literary Gala, Salman Rushdie accepts the PEN Centenary Courage Award and speaks about the urgency to fight book bans and the courage of those who saved him when he was attacked at a public event less than a year ago.

In this CBS Sunday Morning video, correspondent Martha Teichner speaks with the founders of the activist group Moms for Liberty, library officials, a teacher removed from her classroom for giving her students access to banned books, and Art Spiegelman, the author of Maus, about the fight over banning books. This week, the American Library Association released its annual list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books.

Filmed at the Milwaukee Public Library, this video featuring local artists Genesis Renji, Klassik, and Marli Amor aims to raise awareness for Penguin Random House’s All Ways Black initiative, which is partnering with Little Free Libraries to build a number of free libraries with a curated selection of Black authors and classic stories. For every share of the video on social media, Penguin Random House has pledged to donate a book to the initiative.

“A free society does not ban books.” Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones speaks about her personal journey to develop The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story (One World, 2021) as well as the attempts in certain states to ban the book from schools in this interview for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

Maia Kobabe, who uses the gender-neutral pronouns e/em/eir, speaks about the efforts to ban eir award-winning debut graphic memoir, Gender Queer (Oni Press, 2019), from school libraries and the importance of writing LGBTQ stories in this interview with Anthony Allen Ramos for GLAAD’s Books Not Bans campaign.

“For most of American history, African American authors have not had the purchase on the American conscience that they have right now,” says Ta-Nehisi Coates about the rise of banning books with themes about race including his own memoir, Between the World and Me (One World, 2015), as well as Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be Antiracist (One World, 2019) and The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story (One World, 2021) by Nikole Hannah-Jones in this 2021 CBS Mornings interview. “This is really about white children now being exposed to ideas that I think were previously segregated.”

“They are not just a challenge in an individual school system or library, but legislation being introduced in statehouses that would affect the availability of books all over the state in every school and library.” In this PBS NewsHour video, Jeffrey Brown speaks with PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel about the intensifying efforts across the United States to ban specific books related to LGBTQIA+ issues, race, and freedom of speech.

“What does it mean when we say books unite us? It means that books can be the tethers, that books can connect human beings.” In this video, Jason Reynolds, honorary chair of Banned Books Week 2021, talks about the importance of reading a range of narratives and stories that make up this “tapestry of life” and the danger of censoring that knowledge. “To censor a book is to damage the framework in which we live,” says Reynolds.

“Censors never go after books unless kids already like them.” In this video for Banned Books Week, frequently censored author Judy Blume speaks about the negative effect that book banning has on children.

"Censorship is the enemy of truth." Bill Moyers discusses what books and libraries have meant to his life, and expresses his dismay and frustration over the prejudices that motivate others to ban books.

“It’s like banning ideas, banning thoughts, banning people,” explains Walter Mosley, one of 13 authors who express in this video—released to recognize Banned Books Week 2013—their thoughts on censorship and banned books.