Book banning: where do you stand?

What's been happening this year, and where to from here

Jul 01, 2024

‘Whenever you see state-sanctioned censorship and removal of books by burning or banning, it was a prelude to a dark age, a time when you can’t say certain things.’

Tracie D. Hall, outgoing head of the American Library Association

In 2020 Tracie D. Hall became the first black woman to head the American Library Association, and she was named one of Time’s most influential people in 2023. Hall has been in charge at a time when all but four states in the US have introduced pro-censorship laws, and more challenges are being made to books in both public and school libraries than ever before. She has said that America is ‘now outpacing even the McCarthy era in terms of censorship. This should be a global concern because we are seeing other nations who are copy-catting the clamping down on freedom of speech.’

Whatever happens in the US often seeds itself into Australian culture. For example, at the beginning of May, western Sydney’s Cumberland council voted to place a blanket ban on same-sex parenting books from its eight local libraries. The amendment, put forward by the former mayor and current councillor Steve Christou, proposed that the council take ‘immediate action’ to ‘rid’ same-sex parent books and materials in its library service. After the attempt made the national news, and protestors rallied, this ban was overturned – but it felt like an ominous sign. The start of something, rather than the end.

In an SMH article, Cathie Warburton, CEO of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) said that her organisation has been monitoring this kind of activity over the last 18 months. ‘We are seeing basic copycatting from the States,’ she says. ‘We’ve had people going into libraries, grabbing books off the shelves, reading them out loud and saying “These shouldn’t be here”, calling librarians horrible names and threatening doxxing and physical violence. It’s incredibly distressing.’

Last year in Australia, Welcome to Sex by Dr Melissa Kang and Yumi Stynes was targeted by conservative activists, which resulted in it being temporarily pulled from the shelves of Big W. And earlier this year, Susanne Horman, the owner of Robinsons bookstore in Victoria, caused a furore by writing on X that she would be looking for more picture books with ‘just white kids on the cover’, adding there were ‘Books we don’t need: hate against white Australians, socialist agenda, equity over equality, diversity and inclusion (READ AS anti-white exclusion), left wing govt propaganda. Basically the woke agenda that divides people. Not stocking any of these in 2024.’

In both cases there were swift outcries. Welcome to Sex is back in stock and has been winning awards (Indie Books Book of the Year for Young Adults and the 2024 Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year for Older Children), while Horman has said that her words were taken out of context. But this doesn’t change the fact that more and more of these scenarios are occurring. What’s also concerning is the concept of ‘shadow-banning’, when books disappear from shelves without anything official put out against their use, or certain authors are no longer invited into schools. Other forms of shadow-banning include putting books on higher shelves, administrators quietly instructing teachers and librarians not to use materials anymore without this being put into writing, and libraries stopping the purchase of certain books to avoid backlash.

Author Amie Kaufman, whose books have been targeted in the US, has highlighted the concerning impacts on authors, saying that there’s a misconception that a book ban can be positive, leading to good publicity and increased sales. ‘That is a myth’, she says, because ‘most banned books just go silent and kids don’t get to read those books any more … This is a culture war we need to avoid importing to Australia. We need to be in an active conversation about it.’

This growing problem has a growing response. In America there’s the Unite Against Book Bans group, and the recently formed Authors Against Book Bans (there’s a form on their website inviting you to join if you’re in the US). Pop star Pink gave away 2,000 'banned' books at her concerts in Florida at the end of last year, including The Family Book by Todd Parr, The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and Girls Who Code by Reshma Saujani. And the Rainbow Bus initiative looks to connect readers across America with LGBTQ+ stories – books like Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer, which is currently the most banned book in the US. (This illustrated memoir details Kobabe's experience of coming out as non-binary and asexual, and the book is also the subject of a court case by a conservative activist in Australia.) None of these initiatives can fix things on their own, but together they begin to form a powerful pushback against suppression.

Conservative thinkers such as the Moms for Liberty group, who often lead the book banning initiatives in US schools, believe the titles they target are harmful, stating that they are not banning books, they just don’t want them in school libraries if they have sexually explicit content. I agree that it’s important to manage kids’ age-appropriate exposure to certain topics in books and films - there’s a big difference between the books I would encourage my 10-year-old to read and the books I feel are appropriate for my 15-year-old. However, could this not be fixed by clearer age guidance rather than removal, in the same was as films? And how do we know which statements of intent around book bans are true, and which are covers for more suppressive agendas? There are plenty of knotty questions like these around free speech, censorship and book banning, and they are regularly lost in news reports, particularly when the battle is defined as between the ‘woke left’ and the ‘far right’. The extreme pushback on both sides is often represented as towards two alternative visions of the world - inclusive and open, or safe and orderly - but efforts to silence others undermines both visions, and the zealots on both sides are capable of taking their witch hunts too far.

Can we ever make true progress by silencing others?

Our contemporary culture desperately needs voices that clearly and consistently define ideas around advocating for free speech, individual representation and safety in ways that don’t promote hatred or harm of others, because it’s hard to stay in the murky middle ground of opinion, trying to consider and understand all arguments, particularly when the opposite position feels so intrinsically wrong. It’s also important that we monitor people’s actions as well as their words, and to hold parties accountable when the two don’t correlate.

For me, one of the most confronting aspects of all the book-banning stories has been how quickly I’ve got used to reading about this – sometimes glossing over the details, unable to give them the time and attention they deserve. I have always gravitated to so-called ‘dangerous’ fiction, and some of the books high on my all-time-favourites list are also regulars on the list of banned booked in the US – including The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. I’m also aware that I write fiction that falls into this category – many of my books have multigenerational narratives and the younger characters are often dealing with traumatic or coming-of-age issues – such as a teenage brother’s death and possible suicide, sexual abuse and harassment, control of the female body and first-time sexual encounters. I don’t write on any of these topics to put young people in danger, but rather to allow traumatic or difficult topics to be explored within the safety of story, and to touch on real-life issues in a thoughtful and compassionate way. Some of my aims, depending on the context, are to provide - in addition to a compelling narrative - insight, empathy, food for thought and to connect with readers’ emotions and experiences. I don’t shy away from difficult subjects, but I always treat them with respect.

My teen daughter and I have already looked together at some of the most banned books and stories in the US – most recently The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Every time, far from corrupting her, it has led to deep conversations about how people navigate and struggle with their individual lives, circumstances and identities, and contributed to her obvious, growing compassion for issues around diversity, mental health, trauma and sexuality. I know, from both my own experiences and those of family and friends, just how essential, life-changing and life-saving it is to have diverse titles, topics and identities represented on the shelves. Therefore, I feel it’s vital to keep this topic in the forefront of people’s minds, in order to avoid a descent into the dangers of unbridled censorship and division on either side, and instead ensure that our young people can always access the books they need and deserve.

The Resilient Author

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