The battle over the novel offers a window into America’s long-running fight over what students should be allowed to read.
Articles on Book bans
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It’s a library’s duty to balance representing its community with providing a broad range of books – including those that may challenge or discomfort.
The Queer Bookshelf, a personal journey and quest to document queer writing, is smart and generous – but has some surprising omissions.
Books showing Black children spending time with family, or playing at home, help Black kids see themselves in literature and give all kids a window into others’ experiences.
School boards have gained attention for taking on controversial issues, such as transgender students participating in sports, but much of their work is administrative.
Well-designed school library policies make space for community feedback while preserving intellectual freedom.
The congressional anti-communist hearings of the 1940s are a reminder that freedom of speech today is even more fragile than it may seem.
Culture wars once arose from impromptu events that struck a nerve among Americans, but they are now started by partisan agitators who introduce them to politicians and watch them take hold.
A study of more than 1,600 books suggests that book ban advocates may not look past the cover art.
Florida’s state Legislature will decide in early 2026 whether to eliminate long-standing obligations for schools to require their students to be vaccinated.
A federal judge found a Florida law censoring school library books violates students’ First Amendment rights.
The pope’s embrace of literature and history is a sharp contrast to some of his predecessors, a medievalist explains.
As executive orders ban teaching ‘gender ideology’ and ‘critical race theory’ and the Big Five publishers file a joint lawsuit against book bans, a new era begins.
The number of book bans in the US has soared in recent years. A new study shines light on which types of books and authors are the main targets.
Ta-Nehisi Coates said going to Palestine, shortly before the Hamas attacks, was ‘a huge shock’ – and he felt a responsibility to yell about what he saw there. In The Message, he does just that.
A wave of mostly partisan laws have sought to curtail what university faculty can say and teach.
The culture wars have been around forever, but keep taking new forms, and US variants threaten to spill over to Australia – as seen in the recent (overturned) ban on same-sex parenting books in Sydney.
Medieval writers and clerics condemned queer romance and gender-bending stories − but were often wary of even mentioning the topics.
More than 40,000 people petitioned to reverse Cumberland City Council’s book ban, showing the power of collective action against censorship.
Australia has a long history of book banning organised by Christian associations and churches. A federal court appeal attempt to ban graphic memoir Gender Queer is still to be considered this year.
Top contributors
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Sessional Academic, Children's Literature and Creative Writing, Victoria University
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Dennis Altman is a Friend of The Conversation.
Vice Chancellor's Fellow and Professorial Fellow, Institute for Human Security and Social Change, La Trobe University
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Associate Professor of Journalism, Penn State
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Professor of Law, University of Dayton
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Professor of Education, University of Maryland
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Associate Professor (Literature), Australian Catholic University
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Professor of English, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
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Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney
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Visiting Assistant Professor of English, Whitman College
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Associate Professor in Humanities, University of Southern Queensland
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Adjunct Senior Industry Fellow, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University
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Lecturer in English Literature, Binghamton University, State University of New York
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Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Tennessee
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PhD candidate in education, University of Virginia
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Assistant Professor, University of South Dakota