The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary is holding a full committee hearing titled “Book Bans: Examining How Censorship Limits Liberty and Literature” on September 12th at 10 am Eastern. A live video will be available on the the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary website.
Emily Knox, the Board President of the National Coalition Against Censorship, will be testifying about the increase in book bans in recent years and how it affects democracy and education as well as impedes on First Amendment rights.
Knox urges the subcommittee to act to fight book bans, saying,
“Book Banning has created a perilous challenge to our Constitutional Rights, which promises our freedom to choose materials for ourselves and our families. We should also consider the harm that the act of banning materials is having on youth, educators, librarians, families, and diverse communities across our nation as they fight for access to materials that mirror their cultures and experiences. I hope that our nation’s leaders will understand that each book removal equals a profound loss of educational resources needed to understand the complex world surrounding us.”
Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.