Children’s author Kate Messner was disinvited from an unidentified elementary school in South Burlington, Vermont, this week, less than 24 hours before she was scheduled to speak to students about her new book The Seventh Wish. Even though the visit…
Category: News Blog
This will show up on the main blog page
Japanese Artist Rokudenashiko: “My Body is Not an Obscenity”
Japanese cartoonist Rokudenashiko recently celebrated the release of her new book What is Obscenity? The Story of a Good For Nothing Artist and her Pussy by challenging claims by the Japanese government that her art, and subsequently her body, is obscene. In…
How Czech Underground Comic Art Beat Communism
An art display at the Batalion Bar and Museum in Prague is celebrating underground comic artist Kaja Saudek and tells the tale of his first-hand experiences with censorship in the 1960s and ultimate triumph over a Cold War communist government…
Organizations Urge U.N. To Take Action Against Free Speech Violations in Turkey
Several free speech organizations recently submitted a formal statement to the U.N. Human Rights Council, calling for action to be taken to fix the “major deterioration” of free expression in Turkey. Earlier this month groups like the Committee to Protect…
LGBT Comics Publisher Protests Apple Censorship
Zan Christensen, the founder of LGBT comics publisher Northwest Press, is no stranger to corporate censorship of the books he submits to digital publishing platforms. But after Apple’s iBookstore rejected all three of Northwest’s most recent offerings due “prohibited explicit…
Texas School District Cancels Author’s Visit After Transgender Book Recommendation
The Round Rock Independent School District in Texas has uninvited author Phil Bildner from all eight schools he was scheduled to visit there this fall, apparently because he recommended a book featuring a transgender protagonist when he visited the district…
Egyptian Indie Cartoonists: “The Pencil is a Tool Which All Dictators Hate”
The independent comics scene in Egypt is flourishing as more and more young adults find freedom of expression through the power of the pen. This is definitely the case for Cairo-based twin cartoonists Mohamed and Haitham El-Seht, who recently sat…
Malaysian Artist Charged for Viral Image of PM as Clown
Malaysian artist Fahmi Reza is facing sedition charges for depicting Prime Minister Najib Razak in clown makeup, an image that originally appeared online but has since proliferated in street art throughout the capital of Kuala Lumpur. After learning of those…
Pasco County Schools Will Clarify Review Procedure for Challenged Books
To clear up confusion that came to light during a recent challenge to Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, school district officials in Pasco County, Florida plan to clarify the reach of decisions made by school-level review committees.…
1990s Attempts to Censor Rap Echo 1950s Attacks on Comics
With every new generation, there is a new form of media that becomes both actively embraced by American youth, as well as socially stigmatized and branded as “low class,” “obscene,” and “dangerous” by the morality police (aka grown ups). It…