Book bans and challenges: October 13, 2025

Here's the latest news on book bans, challenges, and other literary obstacles.

• The biggest ICE detention center in the state of New York stopped accepting any book deliveries for detainees in July; rejected books include a Spanish-English dictionary, a Spanish translation of A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin, and The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John Gottman and Nan Silver (New York Focus).

• Eight books — including a book about book bans — have disappeared from the list of nominees in the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl, a competition in which Georgia students are encouraged to read, discuss, and rate recently published titles (Book Riot).

• Irish novelist Naoise Dolan has been released after a few days in Israeli custody; Dolan was on a humanitarian-aid flotilla headed to Gaza (MSN).

• Fiona Benson shares her experience of attending BookForum in Lviv, Ukraine — an event interrupted at one point by the sirens signaling a Russian drone attack (The Guardian).