A 29-year-old Iranian artist and women’s rights activist is facing up to two years in prison, plus corporal punishment, for a cartoon she drew last year criticizing a bill that would outlaw some forms of birth control. Atena Farghadani’s trial…
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Cartoonist to Leave Charlie Hebdo Amid Staff Tensions
The fallout from the January attack on Charlie Hebdo continues, as surviving cartoonist Luz confirmed this week that he plans to leave the publication in September. The news comes in the midst of a public dispute among staff over the…
North Carolina Teacher Under Fire for Reading Same-Sex Fairy Tale in Class
King & King, a frequently-challenged picture book by Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland about two princes who fall in love, is at the center of a controversy in rural Orange County, North Carolina. Third-grade teacher Omar Currie read the…
The Kite Runner Challenged in North Carolina High School
A review committee in the Asheville, North Carolina, school system has deemed Khaled Hosseini The Kite Runner “an appropriate curriculum resource and in alignment with the current state wide instructional standards,” but the book could be suspended again pending an…
Nude Fairy Painting Returns to San Bernardino Library
City officials in San Bernardino, California, last week agreed to restore a painting of a nude fairy to its place in a public library exhibit after the National Coalition Against Censorship said its removal raised “serious constitutional concerns.” The painting…
Iraqi Cartoonist’s Work a Labor of Love
In the tumultuous years since the US-led coalition’s invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam Hussein, the country’s media landscape has changed dramatically for everyone–including political cartoonists. In a recent interview from the online magazine Sampsonia Way, cartoonist Saad…
CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein Joins Freedom to Read Foundation Board of Trustees
Today, CBLDF is proud to announce that CBLDF Executive Director Charles Bownstein has been elected to a two-year term on the Freedom to Read Foundation’s Board of Trustees! FTRF “is a non-profit legal and educational organization affiliated with the American…
Malaysian Court Allows Government to Appeal Lifting of Zunar Ban
Just over a week before Zunar’s trial on nine counts of sedition is slated to begin, a Malaysian court yesterday allowed the Ministry of Home Affairs to move forward with a separate effort to ban two of his cartoon books…
Turkish State Broadcaster Allegedly Retaliated Against Children’s Cartoon
A Turkish newspaper columnist wrote last week that the state-run television broadcaster cancelled the popular children’s cartoon Pepee in 2013 because the main character proclaimed to his young audience that “theft, slander and lying are bad.” Some within then-Prime Minister…
Muslims, Charlie Hebdo Counter Geller’s Divisive Narrative
In the days since two gunmen targeted a conference and Muhammad cartoon contest organized by anti-Muslim activist Pamela Geller in Garland, Texas, many Americans have been forced to grapple with what it means to support free speech for all —…