CBLDF is thrilled and honored that She Changed Comics, our book collecting profiles of more than 60 women who transformed the landscape of free expression and expanded the comics artform, has been included on Print magazine’s list of the Best…
Author: Maren Williams
John Lewis to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award for Free Expression
Hard on the heels of receiving the first-ever National Book Award for a comic, Congressman John Lewis will get yet another landmark honor in 2017: the Lifetime Achievement Award for Free Expression from the Newseum in Washington, D.C. The annual…
Freed from Prison, Egyptian Novelist Naji Thanks Supporters Worldwide
A few days after being freed from prison last week, Egyptian novelist Ahmed Naji posted a long message to Facebook thanking the supporters who stood by him during his trial and 10-month incarceration for “violating public modesty” with an excerpt…
One Million Moms Group Takes Aim at Highlights for Including LGBTQ Parents
The advocacy group One Million Moms, which has previously made news with futile boycotts of Archie and the Lucifer TV series, has a new target for its ire: Highlights magazine, the waiting room mainstay aimed at kids from 6-12. This…
Exiled Syrian Cartoonist: “Drawing is the Strongest Weapon Against the Regime”
Five years ago as the Arab Spring swept through the Middle East, Syrian political cartoonist Ali Ferzat sensed a tipping point when it became his responsibility to help “break people’s fear,” in his words. Whereas his cartoons previously relied on…
Ahmed Naji to be Freed From Prison Pending Appeal
After serving 10 months of a two-year prison sentence for literary obscenity, Egyptian novelist Ahmed Naji is expected to be released today after an appeals court suspended his sentence over the weekend. His case is still proceeding, however, and the…
Zunar Arrested Again at Fundraising Event
For the second time in less than a month, Malaysian police arrested political cartoonist Zunar. Last month it was at an exhibition of his cartoons in Penang; this time it was a “Tea with Zunar” fundraiser, book signing, and live…
2016 Wasn’t All Bad: It Had Comics!
As we near the end of this long, hard slog of a year, there is one bright spot that should at least keep us occupied a ways into 2017: the ever-expanding complement of lists bringing together the year’s best comics.…
After Uptick, ALA Office Now Tracking Hate Crimes in Libraries
Following a troubling rise in hate crimes and ideologically motivated book defacement in libraries, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom announced recently that it has begun formally tracking such incidents. OIF is the office that normally tracks challenges…
CBLDF and Partners Urge Policy Change to Protect Books in Accomack County
Following last week’s welcome decision by the school board in Accomack County, Virginia to restore The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird to school libraries and classrooms after they were challenged by a parent, CBLDF and its partners in…