Author: Caitlin McCabe

The Oregonian on the Detriments of Banning Books

In time for Banned Books Week, Steve Duin of The Oregonian talks about the problems with banning books and graphic novels and how, even in a day and age in which freedom of speech is celebrated, schools, libraries, and bookstores are still…

CBLDF Joins Statement Regarding Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Stifling of Free Speech

CBLDF has joined a coalition led by the National Coalition Against Censorship condemning the boycott of an Ashland, Oregon, bookstore. The boycott resulted from the display of books that had been banned for racial reasons and was led by the Oregon…

Columbia University Acquires Personal Archives of Seminal Comics Creator Howard Cruse

The Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Columbia University recently welcomed a new addition to its prestigious collection of comic history artifacts: the personal archives of contemporary cartoonist and graphic novelist Howard Cruse. The collection which includes personal correspondences, audio…

Artist Regains Access to Blog After Battle with Google

After an extended legal battle, author and artist Dennis Cooper has regained access to over 14 years’ worth of materials — including a work in-progress GIF novel — from his Blogger site which was abruptly shut down on June 27 by…

Celebrating Denis Kitchen

In 1986, Denis Kitchen helped defend the First Amendment rights of comic shops and creators who had become the targets of censors in an increasingly hostile consumer environment, laying the groundwork for what would become the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Today,…

Turkish Cartoonists Discuss Post-Coup State of Free Speech

Since the attempted coup in Turkey, the country’s administration has been arresting and silencing journalists and cartoonists in the country, so Cartoon Movement sat down with four cartoonists — Menekse Cam, Emrah Arikan, Halit Kurtulmus and Oguz Gurel — to discuss the state of affairs and what it means to…

Minnesota Public Radio Challenges Adults to Read Controversial YA Books

Minnesota Public Radio is challenging adult readers to set aside preconceived notions of YA literature and to pick up some of today’s most critically acclaimed — and even controversial — books for teen audiences. From This One Summer, an award-winning graphic…

Nigerian Women Fight Back Against Oppression with Romance Novels

A new, unconventional literary movement is taking hold in Nigeria in the form of romance novels. Called “love literature,” dozens of women are printing and even hand-writing thousands of novellas with the intent of speaking out against and challenging certain social…