While hiding in a Dutch attic for more than two years during World War II, Emmanuel Joels passed the time creating a comic week by week and sending it to his girlfriend Hetty van Son, also hiding just a few…
Author: Maren Williams
Egyptian Parliament Outraged by Puppet’s Insults
Shortly after Egypt’s judiciary allowed the satirical puppet Abla Fahita to be charged with “violating public morality,” she has now drawn the ire of Parliament as well by referring to its members as “impaired.” Some lawmakers are pressing for her…
Iranian Cartoonist Heidari Released from Prison
Just a few days after we got word that Atena Farghadani is set to be released from an Iranian prison next month, her countryman and fellow cartoonist Hadi Heidari has been freed after he was re-arrested on a previous charge…
Substitute Teacher Fired for O’Keeffe Lesson
A substitute teacher in Battle Creek, Michigan is out of a job after her lesson on the art of Georgia O’Keeffe unexpectedly fell afoul of a school district sex education policy last week. Allison Wint is not contesting her dismissal,…
Dramatists Legal Defense Fund Asks Users to Report Theater Challenges
Our colleagues over at the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund are building a new database of dramatic works challenged or censored in the United States, and they need your help! DLDF describes the new initiative at their website: The Dramatists Legal…
Egyptian Cartoonist Makhlouf Arrested in Pre-Demonstration Crackdown
Egyptian cartoonist Makhlouf was among dozens of people arrested late last week in advance of planned street protests today. After being held overnight and released without charge early Friday morning, he said on Facebook that his high profile may have…
BREAKING NEWS: Farghadani Set to be Released Next Month
After nearly 18 months in prison for a cartoon depicting politicians as animals, Iranian artist and activist Atena Farghadani will reportedly be released sometime next month. She had been sentenced to 12 years and 9 months, but according to her…
KIDS AND TEENS: Vote Now in the Children’s Choice Book Awards!
Time is running out to vote in the Children’s Choice Book Awards! Kids from Kindergarten through Teen have until Monday, April 25 to vote for their favorite books published in 2015. Parents, teachers, librarians, and booksellers can also enter multiple…
Higher Ed Sweeps 2016 Muzzle Awards
Every April the Virginia-based Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression bestows its Muzzle Awards, dishonoring “those individuals and institutions responsible for the more egregious or ridiculous affronts to free speech during the preceding year.” In a departure…
Dapier Receives Intellectual Freedom Award for Persepolis Research
Jarrett Dapier, the library science scholar whose Freedom of Information Act Request helped to uncover the truth about Chicago Public Schools administrators’ 2013 effort to ban Persepolis from classrooms and libraries, is receiving some well-earned recognition from the American Library…