University of Kwazulu-Natal

Impact Report Pen America

Bonisiwe Shabane
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impact report pen america

The Administration promised free expression. The results were anything but more freedom. With more than 22K instances since 2021, the bans have become normalized. Thu. December 4 at The Strand Bookstore in NYC The PEN/Robert J.

Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers recognizes 12 emerging writers each year for their debut short story Local censorship tactics are being adopted on the state and federal levels These books top PEN America's list of the books most often challenged and banned from school classrooms in the U.S. during the 2024-2025 school year. PEN America hide caption PEN America released its list of the most-banned books of the 2024-2025 school year on Wednesday – and warned that the number of books challenged or banned in public school districts across the country...

The group dedicated to free expression counted 6,870 bans during the past academic year. While that's down from a total of 10,046 bans imposed during the 2023-24 school year, it's still a sharp rise from the period of 2021-2023, which averaged just under 3,000 incidents of book banning... PEN America defines a school book ban as "any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct... According to the new report, the most-banned book in the country in the 2023-24 school year was Anthony Burgess' 1962 dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange, followed by Patricia McCormick's 2006 young adult title Sold,... The third book on the list is Jennifer Niven's YA coming-of-age novel Breathless. PEN America released data for the 2024–25 school year, with more than 6,800 instances of book bans in districts across the country.

PEN America today released a new report, “The Normalization of Book Banning,” documenting public school book bans for the 2024–25 school year—the fourth year of what the free speech organization calls the “contemporary campaign... Between July 2024 and June 2025, PEN America counted 6,870 instances of book bans across 23 states and 87 public school districts. For the third straight year, Florida had the most, with 2,304, followed by Texas with 1,781, and Tennessee with 1,622. Since 2021, PEN America has documented nearly 23,000 cases of book bans across 45 states and 451 public school districts. The number of reported books banned dropped significantly from the previous year, when PEN America documented more than 10,000 instances, but the report notes this does not mean the crisis is abating. In fact, the lower totals may be the product of the mass of removals in past years—books removed previously and still unavailable to students are not counted in this year’s data—combined with the current...

The numbers also cannot account for books no longer being purchased under pressure and fear of consequences. PEN America collects its data from book bans that are directly reported to the organization, as well as media reports. “Censorship pressures have expanded and escalated, taking on different forms—laws, directives, guidance that sows confusion, lists of books mislabeled as ‘explicit’ materials, and ‘do not buy’ lists,” Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom... “A disturbing ‘everyday banning’ and normalization of censorship has worsened and spread over the last four years. The result is unprecedented.” PEN America's latest Freedom to Write Index, its sixth annual report tracking the detention and imprisonment of writers, found that the number of writers jailed worldwide reached a new high in 2024.

Per the report, at least 375 writers were jailed in 40 countries during 2024, up from 339 in 2023. The report found that China, already the world's top jailer of writers, posted a significant increase of 11 cases, to 118 writers behind bars. And Iran once again had the second highest number of imprisoned writers at 43. Together, China and Iran jailed a combined 43% of the total count. Saudi Arabia landed at #3 on the list with 23 writers jailed. Vietnam, Israel, Russia, Turkiye, Belarus, Egypt, and Myamar rounded out the top 10.

The report noted that war and conflict continued to have a negative impact on writers in 2024, attributing upticks in the number of imprisoned writers in Israel and Russia to crackdowns on dissent. The report also noted that "recent developments in the United States underscore the precarious nature of freedom of expression," adding that "the suppression of free expression has taken on an especially troubling dimension on... Constitution." New to PW? To set up immediate access, click here. The surge of book bans in the United States has continues to post a significant challenge for libraries, schools and communities committed to intellectual freedom and knowledge sharing.

PEN America’s 2024 report, “Banned in the USA: Beyond the Shelves”, sheds light on the alarming escalation of censorship, detailing its scope, key targets and the response from librarians determined to protect access to... So let’s talk numbers. According to the report, during the 2023-2024 school year there were: 10,046 book-banning instances (54.7% increase year-over-year) 1,406 unique titles banned (164.4% increase year-over-year) 2,662 authors impacted (77.5% increase year-over-year)

FILE - Aisles of bookshelves at Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. (Photo by: Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) An annual report on book bans in U.S. schools finds that 80% of the nearly 7,000 books banned for the 2024-2025 school year took place in just three states. The report, called "Banned in the USA," was released Wednesday by PEN America. The three states that have removed or attempted to remove the most books in the past year are Florida, Texas and Tennessee.

Florida was the No. 1 state for book bans, with 2,304 instances of bans, followed by Texas with 1,781 bans and Tennessee with 1,622. In Feature Articles by Porter AndersonNovember 1, 2024 Calling US book bannings ‘tragic for young people,’ PEN America, four days before the 2024 US elections, cites a one-year 200-percent increase in such censorship. <img decoding="async" class="wp-image-203339 size-full lazyload" src="https://publishingperspectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/710-PEN-America-graphic-on-book-banning-NOV-2024-ftw.jpg" alt="" width="710" height="472" srcset="https://publishingperspectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/710-PEN-America-graphic-on-book-banning-NOV-2024-ftw.jpg 710w, https://publishingperspectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/710-PEN-America-graphic-on-book-banning-NOV-2024-ftw-300x199.jpg 300w, https://publishingperspectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/710-PEN-America-graphic-on-book-banning-NOV-2024-ftw-100x66.jpg 100w" sizes="(max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px" /> Image: PEN America By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson See also: IPA International Publishers’ Congress: Jennifer Clement on Censorship, ‘a Threat to Democracy’ Censorship: PEN America Sees US Book Bannings Triple

<img decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-153695 lazyload" src="https://publishingperspectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PEN-America-logo-2-graphic-only-unlined-ftw-300x234.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="195" srcset="https://publishingperspectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PEN-America-logo-2-graphic-only-unlined-ftw-300x234.jpg 300w, https://publishingperspectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PEN-America-logo-2-graphic-only-unlined-ftw-100x78.jpg 100w, https://publishingperspectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PEN-America-logo-2-graphic-only-unlined-ftw.jpg 653w" sizes="(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px" />The report has been released today (November 1), four days before what may be the...

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The Administration Promised Free Expression. The Results Were Anything But

The Administration promised free expression. The results were anything but more freedom. With more than 22K instances since 2021, the bans have become normalized. Thu. December 4 at The Strand Bookstore in NYC The PEN/Robert J.

Dau Short Story Prize For Emerging Writers Recognizes 12 Emerging

Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers recognizes 12 emerging writers each year for their debut short story Local censorship tactics are being adopted on the state and federal levels These books top PEN America's list of the books most often challenged and banned from school classrooms in the U.S. during the 2024-2025 school year. PEN America hide caption PEN America released its list of the m...

The Group Dedicated To Free Expression Counted 6,870 Bans During

The group dedicated to free expression counted 6,870 bans during the past academic year. While that's down from a total of 10,046 bans imposed during the 2023-24 school year, it's still a sharp rise from the period of 2021-2023, which averaged just under 3,000 incidents of book banning... PEN America defines a school book ban as "any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result...

PEN America Today Released A New Report, “The Normalization Of

PEN America today released a new report, “The Normalization of Book Banning,” documenting public school book bans for the 2024–25 school year—the fourth year of what the free speech organization calls the “contemporary campaign... Between July 2024 and June 2025, PEN America counted 6,870 instances of book bans across 23 states and 87 public school districts. For the third straight year, Florida h...

The Numbers Also Cannot Account For Books No Longer Being

The numbers also cannot account for books no longer being purchased under pressure and fear of consequences. PEN America collects its data from book bans that are directly reported to the organization, as well as media reports. “Censorship pressures have expanded and escalated, taking on different forms—laws, directives, guidance that sows confusion, lists of books mislabeled as ‘explicit’ materia...