The latest round of the Malaysian government’s harassment against political cartoonist Zunar came to a head last week when he was charged with nine counts of sedition, which could carry a total sentence of up to 43 years in prison.…
Author: Maren Williams
Minnesota Proposes Classroom Censorship Bills
Three similar bills recently introduced in the Minnesota legislature would require school districts to notify parents or guardians every time a fellow parent, guardian, or an adult student deems instructional material such as books or movies to be “sexually explicit…
Clean Reader App Could Be Misused in Schools, Libraries
By now many readers and fans of free speech have likely heard about the app called Clean Reader, which applies a filter to users’ ebooks and replaces certain potentially offensive words with supposedly milder terms. While many book lovers have…
Rio Rancho Parent Appeals Palomar Decision
Last week’s good news that a Rio Rancho, New Mexico school district review committee voted to retain Gilbert Hernandez’s Palomar in a high school library collection is today tempered by the additional information that the parent who challenged the book…
Wallingford Superintendent Refuses to Back Down on Perks Ban
The superintendent of schools in Wallingford, Connecticut, is doubling down on his decision to overrule a review committee’s recommendation and remove Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower from the district’s curriculum. After receiving local and national criticism for…
Cartooning Flourishes in Myanmar’s New Independent Media
The nation of Myanmar has only had an independent press for three years, since the longtime military junta began transitioning to a civilian government. In that short time, though, a new generation of cartoonists has arisen to document and respond…
CBLDF Joins Growing Opposition to Perks of Being a Wallflower Ban
Following last week’s news that the Superintendent of Schools in Wallingford, CT had removed Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower from the curriculum despite a review committee recommendation to keep it, CBLDF has joined with five other members…
Tintin in America Removed from Winnipeg Library Pending Review
The 1932 Belgian comic Tintin in America has run into trouble in Winnipeg, Canada, this past week, first when it was temporarily pulled from the sales floor of a Chapters bookstore and then when it was removed from the city’s…
Sherman Alexie: Censorship Sends Book Sales Rocketing
Nearly a year after his book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was temporarily banned from a supplemental reading list in a Boise-area school district, Sherman Alexie last week spoke before a capacity crowd of 800 at the…
Rio Rancho Public Schools to Observe Challenge Policy for Palomar
Good news out of Rio Rancho, New Mexico: Despite a school district official’s initial assessment last month that Gilbert Hernandez’s Palomar was “clearly inappropriate” for a high school library collection, it has been confirmed that the district will follow its…