As Banned Books Week Begins, ALA and PEN America Data Paint Differing Pictures of Censorship

Mixed Signals

As Banned Books Week 2024 gets underway, two new reports from the American Library Association and PEN America on book banning muddy the waters somewhat on the current state of censorship. While the ALA's data shows that advocacy efforts are resulting in the slowing of attempts at censorship in public, school, and academic libraries, PEN found that cases of book censorship in public schools nearly tripled in the 2023-2024 school year compared to the year prior thanks to state legislation. Further complicating the picture, Slate talked with educators about how schools are self-censoring through preemptive book bans. Back in New York City, roughly 100 friends and colleagues feted publishing industry legend Stuart Applebaum on Friday evening ahead of his departure from Penguin Random House at the end of this month. Scribner will publish the debut memoir by Booker Prize–winning author Arundhati Roy next fall, report the AP. Inside Higher Ed weighs in on the recent antitrust lawsuit filed against six major academic publishers, arguing that the "prestige factor" of publishing with certain journals undermines the leverage of contributors. The New York Times spotlights Assouline, calling the publisher's designer coffee table books "the Birkin bag of the book world." Lit Hub has some advice for writers dealing with the "post-book blues." And author and literary critic Fredric Jameson has died at 90.