We Need Diverse Books and ALA Present: How to Fight Book Bans: Authors On Speaking Up and Fighting Back

Censorship and book bans are a fundamental crisis in America. PEN America has reported a massive increase of censorship attempts in 2021 and 2022 affecting over 1600 unique book titles of which 41% address LGBTQ+ themes and 40% are about BIPOC characters. Research shows that the movement to ban books is pushed by advocacy groups, using inflammatory language such as “grooming” “pedophile” and “pornography” publicly, and then submitting lists with hundreds of books for censorship. Many of these groups espouse “Christian nationalist political views,” or declare a mission to reform public schools.

In this panel, WNDB founding member and CEO, Ellen Oh, will moderate a panel of authors and present concrete ideas for how to respond to censorship attempts in the classroom. Authors will give guided talking points on how to navigate a book challenge. Panelists will present strategies and resources to help teachers, administrators, and caregivers respond to concerned parents who bring such challenges. Strategies will include:

• How to book talk a challenged book effectively.
• How to get support from the greater community .
• How to get resources from the publishing community of writers, publishing professionals, activists.
• How to start a book club and get the parents and students involved.