How Authors Against Book Bans helped defeat attempted library censorship in Florida.
If you’ve been following the right wing’s obsessive book-banning over the last few years, you’ve probably heard of Authors Against Book Bans, a coalition of writers, illustrators, and other book people who are working to fight censorship and protect access to literature across the country.
Recently, AABB organized a successful letter-writing campaign, an encouraging win in the fight against book bans. The school board in St. Johns County, Florida, an extremely red part of the country, was considering banning six books: Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas, Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, Normal People by Sally Rooney, Storm and Fury by Jennifer Armentrout, and Strange Truth by Maggie Thrash.
The books had previously been reviewed by a district committee, who recommended that they remain available to borrow. The superintendent of schools agreed, but the school board, which includes some very conservative voices, ignored that lengthy process and decided to hear an appeal to remove the titles.
AABB’s membership rallied, writing hundreds of letters to the school board, who ultimately decided to keep the books on the shelves. It was a win for Florida, readers, and AABB.
I reached out to Maggie Tokuda-Hall, an author and a member of AABB’s national leadership, to talk about the successful campaign.
The first that I heard about this Florida school board attempting a ban was from your call-to-action email. How did AABB initially find out about this pending school board action?
We were called in by the Florida Freedom to Read Project, a really terrific grassroots organization that has really led by example for similar groups all across the country. They’ve been organized for much longer than we have, and we’re proud to count them among our partners.
We have partners all across the country like FFTRP and highly recommend donating to them, and grassroots orgs like them that really do the frontline work of fighting book bans.
What was the response like from your membership when you put out the call?
Immediate and enthusiastic. We asked our Washington State and New York membership lists to write. This school board received hundreds of letters from concerned book creators. It is our hope that all our members will have letters like these ready to go so that we can deploy them more. The opportunity will, unfortunately, only arise more and more under the current regime.
What was the outcome of the writing campaign?
Before AABB and FFTRP got involved it was a foregone conclusion they’d be removed. We’re very proud that our partnership allowed for continued (if unnecessarily limited) access to these books.
How soon after the decision was made did you hear? How did you feel?
I heard as soon as the school board meeting concluded. We at AABB are delighted any time our activism helps the public retain access to literature. That’s exactly what we’re built to fight for, and exactly what we’ll keep on doing.
Did you hear anything from the PTA about the letters? I’m curious what the reaction is like to campaigns like this.
Yes, some book creators received responses. They were both bewildered that they were being contacted by so many authors, and in some cases expressed gratitude for the creator’s perspective. Clearly our combined voices made a difference, and I’m really proud of that.
I think all the creators who participate should be really proud of that, too. As always, collective action is our most powerful tool, and we’re a big and smart community. It was great to see us flex like this.
What’s next for AABB?
The horrors persist but so do we. We have spent the last year building out what we can do.
This was just one initiative of many that are happening all over the country right now. Our Colorado members, Tara Dairman and Courtney Milan, just spoke at a press conference with CO state Senator Lisa Cutter to support a bill that has now successfully moved out of committee, with bipartisan support. Members from Oregon and our international members are writing letters of support to librarians facing really tough circumstances in Tennessee. Our Rhode Island team has become very powerful in a very short period of time, getting involved with state legislation without any directive from national leadership.
We are working all the time to deploy book creators wherever we are needed. We are proud that the systems we’ve been building—purely through volunteer labor—are starting to pan out more visibly.
How can folks who are concerned about book bans get involved?
If they’re a book creator they should join Authors Against Book Bans. If they’re a regular citizen we recommend joining EveryLibrary and United Against Book Bans—both AABB partners—for more calls to action.
Everyone can use the 5calls app to call their state legislatures with a script that AABB wrote, expressing their desire to see their reps protect the freedom to read.
What’s something, big or small, that’s making you feel hopeful these days?
AABB has seen three small successes in the last week. Just ONE week. The new regime has emboldened people to throw all kinds of fascistic nonsense at the wall. But we’re already seeing evidence that pushing back, in whatever corner of the country we live in, in whatever community—is still a potent political power.
Things are grim. I won’t lie about the state of the nation. But in darkness, we find our communities. And our community is deep with the smartest, most educated cohort available: readers. And I truly believe that if we leverage even a fraction of our community’s power to face this moment, we will have significant wins all across the nation. Even in the places, like this school district in Florida—where the Proud Boys presence is so constant that we were unable to send members to their meeting out of safety concerns—we can win. Knowledge is power. And that’s exactly why there are so many people trying to keep the public from accessing it. We don’t have to let them.
