The North Carolina third-grade teacher who came under fire from some parents for reading the picture book King & King to his class is continuing to forcefully protest the suggestion that he should provide advance notice before sharing age-appropriate LGBTQ-themed…
Author: Maren Williams
Chinese Cartoonist Struggles to Survive in Exile
Chinese cartoonist Wang Liming, also known as Rebel Pepper, is stranded in Japan on a temporary visa and turning to online supporters for financial help after his social media and retail sites were shut down, likely on orders from the…
North Carolina Parent Continues Campaign Against The Kite Runner
Despite a school-level review committee’s recent decision that The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is appropriate for a 10th grade Honors English class, the Buncombe County, North Carolina, parent and former school board member who wants it out of the…
Supreme Court Reverses Conviction in Facebook Threats Case
The Supreme Court this week reversed the conviction of a Pennsylvania man who made obliquely threatening statements toward his estranged wife and others on Facebook, saying that courts must take into account the defendant’s state of mind at the time…
Cartoonist Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Mocking Birth Control Bill
Iranian artist and activist Atena Farghadani, who was charged with “insulting members of parliament through paintings” for a caricature she drew lampooning debate on a bill that would outlaw some forms of contraception, has reportedly been sentenced to 12 years…
Spiegelman New Statesman Cover Pulled Amid Dispute Over Mohammed Comic
The most recent issue of the UK’s New Statesman magazine, on the theme of “Saying the Unsayable,” was originally slated to feature a cover by Art Spiegelman. But the legendary creator of Maus pulled the cover “at the very last…
Cartoonists Tell Azerbaijan to #FreeKhadija
Investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova has been a thorn in the side of Azerbaijan’s government for years. Her reporting has exposed high-level corruption and nepotism in President Ilham Aliyev’s administration, so it’s sadly unsurprising that she was arrested on spurious charges…
CBLDF Joins Coalition Protesting Censorship of Of Mice and Men in Idaho
CBLDF has joined the National Coalition Against Censorship’s Kids’ Right to Read Project and other free speech advocates to protest an Idaho school district review committee’s recommendation that John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men be restricted in the 9th grade…
Florida Officials Considered Restricting Speech to Stymie Satanists
As Florida governor Rick Scott’s office last year searched for a justification to bar a Satanic holiday display from the capitol building in Tallahassee for the second year in a row, state lawyers proposed blanket restrictions on expression in public…
Comics Make Great Summer Reads for Kids and Teens!
As the school year winds down, kids across the country are looking forward to lazy days ahead. Summer is an ideal time to introduce young readers to some new comics, which develop both verbal and visual literacy but are also…