No two states have been more consistently in the spotlight for book banning than Texas and Florida. Last year, the Texas legislature passed HB 900, a law that would have forced booksellers and publishers to implement a system to rate the sexual content for any books sold to Texas school libraries. But in July 2023, Charley Rejsek, CEO of BookPeople in Austin, and Valerie Koehler, owner of Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging HB 900 as unconstitutional and won a landmark preliminary injunction that was affirmed by an appeals court in January.
For their efforts, Rejsek and Koehler were named PW’s People of the Year for 2023, and in June they received a Toni Morrison Award for Courage at the New Republic’s Right to Read celebration in Miami. Among those in attendance was Mitch Kaplan, owner of the Miami-based mini-chain Books & Books, who has been integral to fighting book bans in Florida. Last year, working through the Freadom Coalition, Books & Books helped distribute 1,200 banned books to 500 people. The store also launched the Books & Books Literary Foundation, which aims to support the freedom to read through book giveaways and other programming, and which has became a cornerstone member of the Florida chapter of Writers for Democratic Action. “The only way to fight these bans is through collective action,” Kaplan says.
Elsewhere in the Sunshine State, author Lauren Groff opened The Lynx in Gainesville this past spring with the intention of promoting and selling books that have been challenged or banned in Florida. Groff also formed The Lynx Watch Inc., a nonprofit that distributes banned books for free. “We mean The Lynx to be a lighthouse,” Groff says, “not only in Gainesville but through the state of Florida and around the country at large.”
Indeed, Groff’s efforts have resonated far beyond the South. Her friend, fellow author, and Brooklyn indie bookstore owner Emma Straub launched the Books Are Magic Banned Books Distribution Network to raise money for Groff’s nonprofit. “We are surrounded by a well-off community of book lovers here in Brooklyn—one that supports freedom of speech, and many of whom have family living in Florida and don’t like what’s happening there,” Straub says.
The project has raised more than $5,000 since July. “We look forward to sending them a really big check,” says Straub, who intends to fundraise year-round. “We plan to change the organization that we are paired with every few months, so we can spread the money far and wide.”
Midwest nice
Perhaps no bookstore in America’s heartland better exemplifies a commitment to the freedom to read than Loudmouth Books, in Indianapolis. It was founded a year ago by YA author Leah Johnson specifically to sell banned and challenged books. “Such books are at the center of everything we do at Loudmouth,” Johnson says, noting that every customer receives the “same cold open,” with a bookseller explaining the store’s mission.
Handselling at Loudmouth involves more than marketing a title. “We’re trying to sell the idea that these books should remain accessible; they should be read widely and freely,” Johnson says. Even the “most benign display” features banned and challenged books, so as to “normalize” them. “It doesn’t matter what it is—romance, works in translation—we make sure every display centers the voices of those most in danger of being flagged.”
Dog-Eared Books in Ames, Iowa, keeps track of the books being removed from its state’s public school shelves, including titles preemptively pulled by educators worried over the state’s new harmful to minors law, and displays them under the sign, “I Can’t Read That in School.” Co-owner Ellyn Grimm says the section is “regularly updated.”
Customers are also provided with postcards to write to elected officials advocating for books. “We pay for the postage and mail them,” Grimm says, noting that discussions with customers emphasize “the efforts to silence certain voices, certain identities. It’s about more than just intellectual freedom.”
Recently, Dog-Eared Books partnered on a fundraiser with a tattoo studio to support organizations working to maintain diverse books in schools. The studio created and applied temporary tattoos inspired by banned books and the store sold the books, bringing in $2,000. “Not bad for one day of fundraising,” Grimm says.
For two western Michigan indies, a little effort is going a long way. Besides sponsoring “postcard nights,” Bettie’s Pages in Lowell hosts community conversations with the school superintendent and board members. And when a Grand Rapids–area superintendent secretly removed books in violation of school policies, Schuler’s Books operations manager Tim Smith provided the National Coalition Against Censorship with local media contacts. The ensuing scandal prompted the superintendent to apologize.
“The district was soon looking for a new superintendent,” Smith says. “We did a small thing that had a big impact. It’s our responsibility to be engaged citizens.”
Moving mountains
Chelsia Rice, the co-owner of Montana Book Co. in Helena, Mont., tries to turn book banning lemons into lemonade. When freedom to read comes under threat, “we try to do something that’s responsive in a positive way,” Rice says. “After the legislature here tried to ban Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, we sold it at an extreme discount so people could get it and decide for themselves.” The bookstore also made a donation to the Transgender Law Center.
“When people ban books, they’re not just banning words; they’re banning access to empathy, hope, and new worlds,” declares Calvin Crosby, owner of the King’s English Bookshop in Salt Lake City. “Especially with our nonprofit, Brain Food Book [which distributes children’s books to classrooms, schools, pediatric offices, and day care centers throughout Utah], we’re making sure kids have access” to diverse books at a time when Utah has been in the news for statewide bans. Crosby feels bolstered by his customers, “who will buy a stack of banned books to make available to kids.”
The King’s English also partners with another Utah bookstore, Mosaics in Provo, where drag performer Tara Lipsyncki coordinates an events program called Riot! Pride during Banned Books Week. Meanwhile, staffers at Rediscovered Books in Boise, Idaho, are embarking on their fourth year of Read Freely, a program in which 80 volunteers distribute challenged books for free in stores, coffee shops, and at local gatherings, with the books stamped with the Read Freely logo and packaged with an informational bookmark or flyer.
“We choose books we think will spark important conversations or that have been banned in school districts or our state,” King says. In partnership with The Cabin, a literary arts nonprofit, Rediscovered fundraises to cover the cost of the books. Read Freely 2024 culminates in an October party to honor volunteers and sponsors, a chance to raise a toast to the freedom to read.
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A version of this article appeared in the 09/16/2024 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: “It’s Our Responsibility”