Via @shelf-awareness.com's Alex Mutter—it's so worrying that booksellers have to deal w/harassment from bad actors, but grateful that @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social's Philomena Polefrone is helping them deal with such abuse. #FreedomToRead www.shelf-awareness.com/theshelf/202...

We had an awesome Indie Bookstore Day! We focused in on Banned Book awareness with a raffle for @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social with prizes from @sarasbookmacarons.bsky.social, kids’ Banned Book Bingo, and a YA Banned Book Scavenger Hunt! Thanks Kiao Wan Thai for the tea at our Bites event!

Black-owned bookstores are spaces not just for books but for promoting and reclaiming culture and community. We talked to the owners of some of our favorite bookstores across the country. Hear their stories, and if one is near you, go check them out this #IndieBookstoreDay: pen.org/black-owned-...

There are so many amazing #BlackOwnedBookstores around the nation, curated so well, esp support them as Black history is eradicated from schools. Few more I love are #UncleBobbies (Philly), #LitBar (Bronx), & #OctaviasBookshelf (Pasadena). Please add your faves as well! #IndieBookstoreDay

It's Independent Bookstore Day! 4/26 come celebrate our Independent Bookstore! 4/27 The Lynx's 1st birthday! Yoga, music by Collin Whitlock & The Wirebirds, speech at 2:15 @legroff.bsky.social plus cupcakes, karaoke. & find limited-edition tees benefiting @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social

Yesterday, Am*zon announced their annual sale that conveniently overlaps with Independent Bookstore Day (IBD). IBD is more than a discount. It’s about discovery, connection & PEOPLE. Algorithms don’t throw parties. Indies do. Join the #DCBookCrawl on 4/26! See what's in store at People's Book!

Yesterday, Senator McClain struggled to answer pretty clear questions about his bill (SB 1692). Here, he provided factually inaccurate info about the committee review and appeal process. (See ALT text for details)

3/18! Join PEN America, @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social and @everylibrary.bsky.social for Speak Out For Books! Testifying to State Legislative Committees, a free webinar on shaping and strategizing comments to legislative committees about book ban-related bills. Register now: pen.org/event/speak-...

📢 Upcoming training session: "Speak Out For Books! Testifying to State Legislative Committees" featuring @penamerica.bsky.social, @everylibrary.bsky.social, and @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social! pen.org/event/speak-...

We proudly join with @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social to stand against this executive order and the impact it will have on #FreedomtoRead.

ABFE and stands with the Educational Bookshop, which was raided by Israeli police on Sunday, and its owners, booksellers Ahmad and Mahmoud Muna, who are currently under house arrest.

More than 50 organizations representing authors, publishers, booksellers, librarians, distributors, and national and state advocacy nonprofits have signed a joint letter expressing concern that the White House EO on gender identity will lead to censorship: pen.org/press-releas...

ABA and ABFE are proud to join 50+ organizations in signing a joint letter expressing concern that the executive order of January 20, 2025, targeting transgender, nonbinary, intersex, and gender nonconforming people, which could lead to viewpoint-based censorship of literature.

New blog post: Book Banning is not a Hoax… In Utah, it’s a Crisis! letutahread.org/blog/bookban... @everylibrary.bsky.social @aabbri.bsky.social @penamerica.bsky.social @utaheducationassoc.bsky.social @authorsguild.bsky.social @elanakarnold.bsky.social @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social

This week, Laney Hawes from the @txfreedomread.bsky.social came on the BookED podcast is back to talk about what lawmakers are cooking up in Texas to attack the freedom to read in the 2025 legislative session. Spoiler: it doesn’t look good. sites.libsyn.com/109160/site/...

To learn more about book bans, follow: American Library Association, Unite Against Book Bans, Authors Against Book Bans, EveryLibrary, National Coalition Against Censorship, The Author’s Guild, Florida Freedom to Read Project, Texas Freedom to Read Project, American Booksellers for Free Expression.

YES!!! We LOVE our local indie bookshops! They’re some of our fiercest advocates in the fight for the freedom to read! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

Here in the Bay Area many feel largely (if not entirely) insulated from the concerns surrounding banned books. It's often either an abstract problem or elsewhere. But here's the thing: the ubiquity of Amazon, & their increasingly full-throated support of the GOP, brings it v. close to home. (1/2)

Book bans are not a hoax. Don’t get distracted by rhetoric: censorship is rampant, books by LGBTQ+ people and people of color are being targeted, and we don’t have to stop calling out book bans when we see them. Period. #ReadingIsResistance #IReadBannedBooks

Hoaxes: - Pizza rat - Crop circles... probably 👀 - 1938 "War of the Worlds" broadcast Not hoaxes: - Climate change - Moon landing - BOOK BANS