She Changed Comics! Help Back CBLDF’s History of the Women Who Changed Free Expression on Kickstarter!

Women have been making comics since the medium’s very beginning, but there’s an important story that hasn’t yet been told: how women changed free expression in comics. With your help, CBLDF will tell that story in She Changed Comics, a full-color, 160-page book coming out this fal ...

Banned Books Week Spotlights Diversity in 2016

Why are so many diverse books banned? The 2016 celebration of Banned Books Week will examine this important question as part of its thematic focus on diversity, the event’s national coalition announced today. Banned Books Week, the annual celebration of the freedom to read, will run from Septe ...

CBLDF Announces 2016 Membership Incentives, Featuring Art by CRAIG THOMPSON!

CBLDF's work defending the right to read is more important than ever. But we can’t do it without your support! When you join CBLDF in 2016, we’ll thank you with the best incentives in the free speech community, including member exclusives with stunning art by acclaimed cartoonist Craig Thompson!

Leading the Fight for Free Expression: CBLDF Annual Report 2015

Although comics have never been a bigger part of  mainstream pop culture, they sustained more censorship attacks in 2015 than at any other time this century. CBLDF was on the case, fighting back by providing expert support to keep comics available for everyone! CBLDF is at the forefront of defendin ...

Comic Book Club Handbook

Learn how to start and make the most of book clubs for comics and graphic novels with the Comic Book Club Handbook, a new resource produced by Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in collaboration with Comic-Con International! Designed for librarians, retailers, and individuals alike, the Comic Book Cl ...

Radio Free Comix: The CBLDF Podcast

In support of our ongoing education work, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is now part of the audio-sphere! A mix of interviews, discussions about current Free Speech events, convention panels recordings, and archival materials, the CBLDF Podcast will be a monthly event, from our keyboards to your ...

In Stores Now: Latest Edition of CBLDF’s Raising a Reader! How Comics & Graphic Novels Can Help Your Kids Love To Read!

With Free Comic Book Day coming up, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is delighted that the latest edition of our proven resource, Raising a Reader! How Comics & Graphic Novels Can Help Your Kids Love To Read! is in stores today! With more than 80,000 copies in print, Raising a Reader! How Comics &a ...

CBLDF Protects The First Amendment!

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the First Amendment rights of the comics medium. Our work takes us into courtrooms, classrooms, conventions and libraries all over the United States where we provide legal aid, education, and advocacy to protect th ...

NYC: Join CBLDF for MoCCA This Weekend!

April 1, 2016
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NYC: Join CBLDF for MoCCA This Weekend!

This weekend, CBLDF fights for free speech in its NYC stomping grounds during MoCCA Fest 2016! CBLDF will be hosting signings with Ariel Schrag and Phoebe Gloeckner at table E 160-163 ! Presented by the Society of Illustrators, MoCCA takes place April 2 – 3, 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., at...

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She Changed Comics: Manga and Women in Charge

April 1, 2016
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She Changed Comics: Manga and Women in Charge

Happy Women’s History Month! All through March, we celebrated women who changed free expression in comics. Please enjoy our final weekly compilation of biographical snippets on female creators who have pushed the boundaries of the format and/or seen their work challenged or banned. Like these stories? Please back our Kickstarter to create She Changed Comics as...

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“Creative City” Censors Creativity Due to Pornography Concerns

April 1, 2016
By
West Hollywood Women

Due to complaints and misinterpretation as child pornography, the city of West Hollywood, California, forced the removal of three photographs by local female artist Brooke Mason from a Woman’s History Month-themed city-wide exhibition. The removal of the pieces has not only gotten the community up in arms, but has raised free speech concerns. In celebration of…

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Franco-Syrian Cartoonist Struggles to Process Hebdo Attack, International Affairs

April 1, 2016
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Franco-Syrian Cartoonist Struggles to Process Hebdo Attack, International Affairs

Riad Sattouf, Franco-Syrian creator of the universally lauded graphic memoir The Arab of the Future, is an uneasy symbol of the intercultural tensions currently roiling Europe and the Middle East. A longtime contributor to Charlie Hebdo and until 2014 the magazine’s only regular cartoonist of...

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Kanika Mishra: Social Media as a Vehicle for Free Speech and Empowerment

March 31, 2016
By
Kanika Mishra

Known for her cartoons on social and political issues in India—especially those that relate to Indian women—cartoonist Kanika Mishra has gained significant recognition for her use of social media as a vehicle for freedom of expression. Earlier this year, Mishra gave a talk at TEDxYouth@OIS, during which she spoke about the challenges that women face,...

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Cartoonist Gado Won’t Be Silenced by Kenyan Government

March 31, 2016
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Cartoonist Gado Won’t Be Silenced by Kenyan Government

In the aftermath of Kenyan cartoonist Godfrey Mwampembwa (better known as Gado) being fired from the Kenyan newspaper The Daily Nation earlier this month, fellow cartoonists, free speech advocates, and cartoonist rights activists are supporting the artist and condemning Kenyan press for undermining freedom of expression. Regarded by many to be the “most important” and “most syndicated” cartoonist in…

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Buffy, Angel, & Spike Team Up for a Comics Bundle to Support Charity, Including CBLDF!

March 30, 2016
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Buffy, Angel, & Spike Team Up for a Comics Bundle to Support Charity, Including CBLDF!

Several years ago, Buffy, Angel, and Spike left television behind and found a new home in the pages of comics. Humble Bundle has teamed up with Dark Horse and IDW to assemble those comics into a bundle with Humble Comics Bundle: Buffy, Angel, & Spike. Customers can...

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Krug Fund Offers Scholarships for Online Intellectual Freedom Course

March 30, 2016
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Krug Fund Offers Scholarships for Online Intellectual Freedom Course

The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Illinois) are pleased to announce a partnership to offer an online graduate-level course on intellectual freedom for library and information science (LIS) students around...

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She Changed Comics! Help Back CBLDF’s History of the Women Who Changed Free Expression on Kickstarter!

March 29, 2016
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SheChangedComics_LogoIllustration_color

Women have been making comics since the medium’s very beginning, but there’s an important story that hasn’t yet been told: how women changed free expression in comics. With your help, CBLDF will tell that story in She Changed Comics, a full-color, 160-page book coming out this fall! Please back this important project now on Kickstarter, where...

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Removal of Student Art Piece Incites Free Speech Concerns in Community

March 29, 2016
By
denverpolicekkk

A controversial piece pulled from a Denver, Colorado, student art exhibit earlier this month has incited concerns in the community about free speech violations and sending the wrong message to students when teaching art. The art exhibit, done as part of a Denver public school outreach program, asked students to “select a master work of...

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Egyptians Speak Out for Ahmed Naji and Free Expression

March 29, 2016
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Egyptians Speak Out for Ahmed Naji and Free Expression

Egyptian novelist Ahmed Naji remains in prison pending an appeal of his conviction for “violating public modesty” with an excerpt from his book Use of Life. A few brave government officials, including Minister of Culture Helmy al-Namnam, have ...

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Using Graphic Novels in Education: Lumberjanes

March 28, 2016
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Using Graphic Novels in Education: Lumberjanes

Welcome to Using Graphic Novels in Education, an ongoing feature from CBLDF that is designed to allay confusion around the content of graphic novels and to help parents and teachers raise readers. In this column, we examine graphic novels, including those that have been targeted by censors, and provide teaching and discussion suggestions for the...

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She Changed Comics: Modern Age and Manga

March 25, 2016
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She Changed Comics: Modern Age and Manga

Happy Women’s History Month! All through March, we’ll be celebrating women who changed free expression in comics. Check back here every week for biographical snippets on female creators who have pushed the boundaries of the format and/or seen their work challenged or banned. Fiona Staples The...

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Police Demand Removal of Denver Student’s Art

March 25, 2016
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Police Demand Removal of Denver Student’s Art

Police associations and others successfully demanded the removal of a Denver 10th-grader’s artwork from a public building this week. The drawing shows a police officer in a Ku Klux Klan hood aiming a gun at an unarmed black youth with his hands up. The artwork was...

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Two Indian Men Arrested For Sharing Satirical Image

March 25, 2016
By
RSS Chief

Two young men from the Khargone district in Madhya Pradesh, India, have been arrested for distributing obscene material over the internet. They face a possible three to five year jail sentence. 22-year-old Shaquir Yunus Banthia and 21-year-old college student Wasim Sheikh were arrested earlier this month after sharing on Facebook and WhatsApp an altered image of Mohan...

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