As Republican leaders and conservative parents move to ban books from schools and public libraries, independent book publishers have grown increasingly alarmed at the efforts to restrict titles due to their subject matter like race or sexual orientation being found objectionable. Until now, for the most part, they have been playing defense against the adoption of restrictive policies on what people, children in particular, can read.
Looking to take a more proactive stance, the trade group for such businesses is launching a new book-buying initiative ahead of the annual observances for Banned Books Week being held September 22 through 28. Dubbed "WE ARE STRONGER THAN CENSORSHIP," it aims to send books that have come under fire and been banned to organizations around the country that support the freedom to read.
In partnership with the EveryLibrary Institute the Independent Book Publishers Association has set a goal of buying two or more books for every book that is banned or challenged during the month of September and donating them to regional groups that promote uncensored access to reading. It aims to send at least 2,000 books via the initiative and plans to release on October 14 the full list of the selected books by 20 different publishers.
"Finally, some good news on book bans," quipped Lee Wind, the chief content officer for the association, which is based in the Southern California city of Manhattan Beach. "We are going to try our best to get books into the hands of people who are being held back from having access."
The initiative officially launches Monday, September 9, with the unveiling of a dedicated website. At the site people are asked to donate $16, which buys two books, and purchase branded merchandise like muscle shirts and sweaters.
"The program has a bunch of different elements to it. In addition to the educational part is the idea to clap back on book bans and challenges," explained Wind.
The initiative needs to raise $16,000 to hit its target of 2,000 books, which will be mailed out in November to the selected groups. As of late August, more than $6,820 had been raised, enough to buy 853 books.
"We have to walk the walk by purchasing these books for these organizations who need help," said Angela Engel, 46, a straight ally with a queer daughter who owns The Collective Book Studio based in Oakland. "We are also then supporting an ecosystem of independent publishers who can then continue the work we are doing."
Engel has been a member of the trade group since launching her publishing house in 2019 and is a vocal advocate against censorship and for seeing more diverse books be published. She works with authors and illustrators who run the gamut from writing LGBTQ stories and Jewish books to works that feature racial minorities and immigrants.
"My goal as a publisher is putting books on our shelves we want to read, we want those communities to read, and we want to see," said Engel, adding her titles geared for children "are books I want to publish that really challenge the way we think about raising our families."
One of her 2023 titles, "I'll Be the Moon: A Migrant Child's Story," has been selected as one of the books that is part of the new initiative. Written by Phillip D. Cortez and illustrated by Mafs Rodríguez Alpide, the book is centered on a young girl who must cross the U.S. border from Mexico to reunite with her father.
To date, a few thousand copies of the book have been sold, said Engel. It has been particularly popular with schools in reservations in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas.
"These are communities where this is their story," she explained. "If you find that niche, those books will find that reader."
Wind, 57, who identifies as both gay and queer, is himself a book author who has seen his titles be censored. Among his personal catalogue of books he has written, the one that has been banned the most — at five times now — since being published in 2021 is his "No Way, They Were Gay? Hidden Lives and Secret Loves" that looked at the queer lives of two dozen historical figures.
Impact of book bans
But more concerning than the bans themselves is the environment of fear such efforts create, noted Wind, that can lead librarians, teachers, school officials, and others to impose de facto bans on the books they are buying in order to avoid controversy. And that can lead to negative financial consequences for the independent book publishers of such titles who have less of a buffer compared to larger publishing houses.
"Generally, what we are finding is people are so focused on the books atop of the list of the ones most challenged each year, they lose sight of the point of book bans is the chilling effect," said Wind, who lives in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Marina Del Rey. "It is less about is your book blocked on a list and more about the fear librarians and teachers share about bringing in any books with queer content or Black content."
Fresno-based bookseller Ashley Mireles-Guerrero, 33, who is bisexual and queer, has seen firsthand the impact of book bans. Her county has created a committee tasked with reviewing what books are on the shelves of its library system. Those deemed not suitable for children are to be removed from the children's sections of libraries and placed in areas where only parents can access them.
The policy and others like it that local officials have moved to create led to the state Legislature sending Governor Gavin Newsom last month Assembly Bill 1825 by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance). If signed into law, it will prevent public libraries in the state from pulling books off their shelves or banning the purchase of titles that have to do with such subject matter as LGBTQ topics or race, or "because of the views, ideas, or opinions contained in materials." If enacted, it would not apply to libraries at public schools.
"Right now, our board has put a hold on the parents committee until it finds out what happens with this bill," said Mireles-Guerrero, who owns a pop-up bookstore called Judging by the Covers.
She and her partner, Carlos Mireles-Guerrero, launched it last November in response to the book ban proposal. The couple created a mobile bookshop they can put in the trunk of their car and assemble at any location they are invited to do so, and they will also deliver books purchased via their online shop to patrons in the city of Fresno.
"I am the type of person who needs to do something and get out there. It is why we created the bookstore," said Ashley Mireles-Guerrero, who is working on opening a brick-and-mortar shop in Fresno. "But I also think talking to people one on one is the biggest way to change minds."
She has also seen the impact of the book bans via her job as director of sales and marketing for Familius, a book publisher is based in Sanger, California outside of Fresno.
"You have to get creative with your marketing when there are literal laws against your books' content," she said.
The company's 2021 title "The Proudest Color" is part of the book-buying initiative. Written by two child psychologists, it aims to help children talk about race-based discrimination they may encounter at school while also reaffirming who they are and feeling proud about themselves. Mireles-Guerrero has fielded calls from librarians in Texas and Idaho unsure if they can carry the book due to laws banning the teaching of critical race theory in their states.
"The authors are donating all the royalties of the book to the ACLU," said Mireles-Guerrero, noting it sells for $16.99.
The new initiative builds on the work the association for independent booksellers has done to educate its members about book bans and how to fight back against them. Many focus on works from LGBTQ and Black, Indigenous, and people of color authors and illustrators, with are most often impacted by the book bans, noted Mireles-Guerrero.
"We have been making a move as a board to do more advocacy in the community and the book industry in general," she said. "Recently, we launched advocacy and education groups as separate committees to do more proactive work."
She hopes the public will embrace the new initiative and donate toward it.
By doing so, said Mireles-Guerrero, "you are supporting independent book publishers, supporting the cause, fighting back against book bans, and giving access to communities who need these books the most."
The EveryLibrary Institute in partnership with Tasslyn Magnusson, Ph.D., has been monitoring book bans across the U.S. There were 10,000 challenges to books and bans that happened between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.
That averages out to more than 830 per month. It remains to be seen how many, if any, books will be banned this month. Even if there are none, the association still will send out the 2,000 books it has committed to delivering.
"That would be a fantastic problem. I hope we have that," said Wind of seeing a zero banned book count. "It is still no fun, as the fear teachers and librarians feel is very real."
And with the current political environment and elections coming up in November, Wind expects to see books be banned this month. Advocates are looking at Tennessee where a new book ban law went into effect that requires school boards to decide on removing books by September 19.
"I don't imagine that books will stop being banned. It is so out of control," he said.
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