Posted on May 7, 2025 at 3:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
Catch up quick with the politics-adjacent bookish news of the past few days.
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Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen has become the eighteenth book to be banned in all of Utah's public schools; three districts challenged it, meaning the entire state public school system must dispose of any copies of it, and students are not allowed to bring their personal copies to school to be read in their free time, even (Book Riot).
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After tabling the decision for a month, a South Carolina State Department of Education committee decided to ban ten challenged books from all public schools in the state, putting the total of titles blocked at twenty-one – the most in the US (Book Riot).
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A district court judge granted an injunction, sought by twenty-one attorneys general, to block further dismantling of the Institute for Museum and Library Services; Kelly Jensen finds reason to believe that the judge will find in favor of the attorneys general and rule that actions taken against the IMLS will be declared in violation of the law (Book Riot).
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A group of booksellers and publishers have issued an open letter expressing their support for Mosab Abu Toha, the Palestinian poet, writer, and librarian who just received this year's Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, and urging institutions to hold readings of his poetry to raise awareness of the threats he's facing (Literary Hub).
Categories: Today in Books