In 2006, Iranian cartoonist Mana Neyestani was arrested and imprisoned for three months for drawing a children’s cartoon. In his memoir An Iranian Metamorphosis, he tells the surreal tale of his detention and eventual exile from his native country —…
Comics After Charlie Hebdo: Blank Space and CBLDF Call For Entries For Oslo Exhibition & Fundraiser
In 2015, the power of comics as free expression is not an abstract notion, it’s a matter of life and death. Blank Space, in collaboration with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, is inviting cartoonists to create short comics commenting…
Pennsylvania School District Rejects Pre-Approval Policy
The Lampeter-Strasburg, Pennsylvania, school board made the right decision this past Tuesday when they formally announced that they would not adopt a parental notification/approval policy regarding the inclusion of certain, potentially “controversial,” books in their classrooms. Instead, if needed, teachers…
Happy Freedom to Read Week, Canada!
This week our neighbors to the north are celebrating Freedom to Read Week! Much like Banned Books Week in the U.S., this is “an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom, which…
EXCLUSIVE: CBLDF Talks to Persepolis Sleuth Jarrett Dapier!
Following the recent revelation of new details regarding the Chicago Public Schools’ 2013 classroom ban of Persepolis, CBLDF got in touch with Library & Information Science graduate student Jarrett Dapier, who used the Freedom of Information Act to secure the…
Tanzania Bans Newspaper Over “Disrespectful” Cartoon
The Tanzanian government has banned the Nairobi newspaper, The EastAfrican, from newsstands. Although the publicized reason for the ban is that the newspaper was being distributed within Tanzania without proper legal registration as required by a 1976 law, several individuals…