Book bans and challenges: March 18, 2026

Here's the news on book bans, challenges, and other obstacles to literature and reading that we came across Wednesday, March 18, 2026.

• Utah has actually banned twenty-eight books statewide, with the belated addition of Looking for Alaska by John Green on its official, public ban list (Book Riot). 

• Kelly Jensen explores how the far right is now punishing libraries that follow law and policy, as a way to destroy their power, in the opening to last week's roundup of book ban and challenge news (Book Riot). 

• Jensen spells out exactly what kind of action to take against HR 7661 — the nationwide book ban bill — now that it has moved out of committee and into the full House of Representatives (Book Riot).

• A panel at the London Book Fair discussed whether the spike in book ban attempts in the US can be seen in the UK as well (The Guardian).

• Grammarly has removed its controversial "Expert Review" feature, which used AI to provide feedback that claimed to be inspired by actual well-known writers (The Guardian).