Author Jodi Picoult is a vocal critic of banning books. She’s experienced it firsthand: Individuals and groups across the United States have sought to have many of her books removed from libraries—and many of those efforts have been successful.
When Picoult set across the country in support of her new book, “By Any Other Name” (Ballantine, 2024), it was important for her to shine a spotlight on the book ban crisis. And who better to help her spread the word than librarians?
To aid in this endeavor, Picoult forged a partnership with Unite Against Book Bans (UABB), a national initiative to empower readers everywhere to stand together in the fight against censorship. UABB provided local librarians to speak on the importance of fighting book bans at events on Picoult’s book tour. These librarians joined the author at 12 of her 22 tour markets, many in states where book bans are running rampant like Iowa, Florida, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada, former president of the American Library Association and current assistant director of Glendale (Calif.) Library, Arts and Culture, was one of the many librarians who joined Picoult on the tour, speaking at an event at a bookstore in Huntington Beach, California.
“Thank you, Jodi for spreading the word as book bans continue across the country both on local and state legislative levels,” Pelayo-Lozada wrote on her Facebook page. “Every individual as the right time decide what they and their family read, but they do not have the right to decide what others read!”
Watch Picoult speak about book bans on ABC’s "Good Morning America."
Take action
Alarmed by the escalating attempts to censor books? Here are five steps you can take now to protect the freedom to read.
- Follow news and social media in your community and state to keep apprised of organizations working to censor library or school materials.
- Show up for library workers at school or library board meetings and speak as a library advocate and community stakeholder who supports a parent’s right to restrict reading materials for their own child but not for all
- Help provide a safety net for library professionals as they defend intellectual freedom in their communities by giving to the LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund.
- Educate friends, neighbors, and family members about censorship and how it harms communities. Share information from Banned Books Week.
- Join the Unite Against Book Bans movement and visit our Fight Censorship page to learn what you can do to defend the freedom to read in your community.
Subscribe to the I Love Libraries newsletter! You'll get monthly updates on library news, advocacy updates, book interviews, book info, and more!
Photo: Jodi Picoult on Good Morning America, August 20, 2024.
