The work of Libyan cartoonist Nabil Fannoush is generally well-received in his home country. However, he still faces enough hostility from fundamentalist elements in his country that his editors have advised him to stay in Canada, where he currently resides.…
CBLDF Joins Coalition Opposing Book Rating Proposals in Pennsylvania, Virginia
This week, CBLDF joined the other sponsoring members of the Kids’ Right to Read Project to support students’ and teachers’ free expression rights in two separate but similar cases that would restrict the right to read. CBLDF joins coalition efforts…
Explore Comics Censored in China
We’ve told you before about a few examples of memes, cartoons, and other images being censored on China’s Twitter-like microblogging site Sina Weibo. An army of 150 censors police Weibo’s 500 million users, deleting anything they find that might displease…
Teachers: Don’t Miss These 2013 Graphic Novels
One of our missions here at CBLDF is promoting the use of comics and graphic novels in schools — hence our publications Raising a Reader! How Comic & Graphic Novels Can Help…
Cartoonist Challenges Authority in Tunisia
Tunisian blogger and cartoonist _Z_ didn’t sit back when he saw his government catering to the wealthy elite at the risk of the general public and fragile ecosystem in Tunis. Not long after _Z_ began his crusade against government corruption,…
Using Graphic Novels in Education: Squish
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…
NY District Court Upholds Government’s Right to Search Laptops at the Border
In 2010, a graduate student named Pascal Abidor was traveling from Canada to New York when he was removed from his train and detained by American border agents. In addition to being handcuffed and questioned, his laptop was also seized.…
Utah Librarian To Receive Downs Intellectual Freedom Award
In January 2013, a months-long dispute over Patricia Polacco’s In Our Mothers’ House was finally resolved when the Davis School District in Farmington, Utah, returned the picture book to open library shelves. Since April 2012, the book about a lesbian…
BOOM! Studios Welcomes 2014 as CBLDF’s Newest Corporate Member!
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) announced today that BOOM! Studios has joined the organization as their newest corporate member! BOOM! Studios Founder & Chief Executive Officer Ross Richie says, “The Comic Book Legal…
Fight for the Freedom to Read with CBLDF in 2014!
The Color Purple Remains in North Carolina Classrooms
Throughout December, a parent in Brunswick County, North Carolina, waged a war against Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Color Purple. That war has been lost with the recent decision by the school board to retain…
Massachusetts Library Stands by Tintin
Yesterday, library officials with the Jones Library in Amherst, Massachusetts, refused to reshelve — and thus restrict access to — several Tintin titles after a group of parents filed a complaint about racist caricatures in the books. Scott…
Censorship 2013: Student Protest Saves Persepolis in Chicago Public Schools
When a blogger leaked a March 14 email from the principal of Lane Tech College Prep in Chicago, Illinois, students in the district took immediate action. Within hours of discovering the email, students used social media to organize a protest…
Censorship 2013: Is Apple the New Face of Comics Censorship?
More people read comics digitally every year, but for Apple users, freedom of choice has been limited. Publishers and creators in the digital realm have been stymied by censorship arising from Apple’s inconsistent enforcement of content policies,…
Censorship 2013: Wertham Fabricated Evidence Against Comics
Early in 2013, a library sciences researcher at the University of Illinois proved what many of us already thought: Fredric Wertham, the child psychologist behind the anti-comics screed Seduction of the Innocent, fabricated much of his evidence against comics. The…