@penamerica.bsky.social
We stand at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the U.S. and worldwide. Support and learn more at pen.org.
@penamerica.bsky.socialSpeak by @halseanderson.bsky.social was the 2nd most-banned book in the U.S. during the 2025-26 school year. Anderson told us about the rage she feels over the case of alleged gang rape at Cornell & how our society fails young people when we deprive them of the chance to learn about sex and consent.
@penamerica.bsky.social“We lose the opportunities to understand each other,” McCormick told us. “We lose the opportunity to be uncomfortable, to really face up to the world as it is, and to grapple with it together.”
Read the full interview at: pen.org/patricia-mcc... #BannedBooks #LetFreedomRead
@penamerica.bsky.socialFor #BannedBooksWeek, author Patricia McCormick — whose SOLD was the most-banned book of the 2025-26 school year — visited our office to talk to us about the consequences of repealing young readers’ access to stories about sexual violence.
@penamerica.bsky.socialWhat does it take to stand up to book bans? Sometimes, as @starrysteph.bsky.social explains, the answer is just “one voice.”
See how you can take a stand during the #BannedBooksWeek Day of Action — and every day — at pen.org/action
@penamerica.bsky.socialOn this #LetFreedomRead Day, check out our Banned Books Bingo to see how you can take action to fight book bans!
Lean more at pen.org/action... and let us know in the comments if you get Bingo!
@penamerica.bsky.socialHow did Jane Eyre, the novel that inspired the Texas Bronte Club to form in 1855, get banned in 2026?
A new Texas law — SB 13 law — inspired some school disctricts to place restrictions on anything written for adults, including classics: https://pen.org/jane-eyre-banned-in-texas/ #BannedBooksWeek
@penamerica.bsky.socialFor #BannedBooksWeek 2026, PEN America spoke with Stephana Ferrell, a public school parent and co-founder of @flfreedomread.bsky.social.
Here, she gives us her view from Florida and explains how you can take action alongside the Florida Freedom to Read Project: pen.org/stephana-fer...
@penamerica.bsky.socialFlorida has led the charge in book banning for the past five years and the state ranked second overall in the number of bans during the 2025-26 school year.
Public records requests from @flfreedomread.bsky.social reveal more about the state of school book bans in Florida: pen.org/report/book-...
@peninternational.bsky.socialReposted by @penamerica.bsky.social#Russian Federation: This week marked 20 years since the killing of Novaya Gazeta journalist and writer Anna Politkovskaya. We renew calls for the masterminds behind her murder to be brought to justice.
@pensydney.bsky.socialReposted by @penamerica.bsky.social‼️ In the 2025-26 school year, nearly 12,000 books were banned across the USA. This is almost double the number of books banned in the previous academic year.
It is the highest number of recorded bans in a single year since PEN America began tracking book bans in 2021.
@defendresearch.bsky.socialReposted by @penamerica.bsky.socialSee for yourself how U.S. government #censorship works with Word Wipe, our new project in partnership with @penamerica.bsky.social. scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/10/09/d...
@penamerica.bsky.social"I grew up in Wisconsin, in a town so small we had no stoplights," writes @charlesjensen.bsky.social. "It was isolated intellectually and culturally. The nearest bookstore and movie theater were almost 20 miles away... What my hometown did have was a library" pen.org/no-small-tow... #BannedBooksWeek
@penamerica.bsky.socialIn this week’s PEN Ten, Adam Nelson talks about the true events that inspired his debut novel, Huckleberry Jim. Nelson discusses his work as a traveling actor, how he develops his characters, and setting the story amid racial tensions circa 1991: https://pen.org/adam-nelson-the-pen-ten-interview/
@englishpen.bsky.socialReposted by @penamerica.bsky.socialJacqueline Rose, winner of the #PENPinterPrize 2026, has announced Palestinian playwright, actor, and theatre director, Ali Abu Yasin, as this year’s Writer of Courage.
@pencanada.bsky.socialReposted by @penamerica.bsky.socialNearly 12,000 bans took place in American public schools over the past year, according to a new study from @penamerica.bsky.social.
This is the highest total since the organization began tracking removals five years ago:
@penamerica.bsky.socialPEN America congratulates Anne Carson on winning the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature. A poet, a translator, an essayist and classicist — for four decades, Carson’s groundbreaking work has defied convention, made us question the nature of language, and brought the classical world into the present.
@penamerica.bsky.socialManga, the Hugely Popular Graphic Novels That Originated in Japan, Targeted In Growing Number of Book Bans in the U.S. https://pen.org/banned-manga/ #BannedBooks #BannedBooksWeek
@penamerica.bsky.socialThe most banned book in the 2025-2026 school year, according to the PEN America Index of School Book Bans, is Patricia McCormick’s Sold, a novel about child trafficking. See more of the most-banned books in American schools at: https://pen.org/banned-books-list-2026/
@penamerica.bsky.social“This law continues the pattern of state and federal governments weaponizing public education and political power to further the President’s ideological agenda,” said Jonathan Friedman, Sy Syms Managing Director, U.S. Free Expression Programs.
Read more here: pen.org/press-releas...
@penamerica.bsky.socialPEN America today condemns an Alabama law (HB 2) that took effect last week, mandating that public entities -- including public schools, colleges, universities, and their employees -- refer to the “Gulf of Mexico” as the “Gulf of America.”
