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Book bans are at an all time high, new report finds

The latest report from PEN America shows American book bans more than doubled than the previous year.

6 Mar 2025 9:00

David Burton

PEN America's latest report shows book bans are at an all-time high in the United States and is unfairly targeting vulnerable communities.

Writing and Publishing

PEN America’s latest report shows book bans are at an all-time high in the US and are unfairly targeting vulnerable communities. Image: Brendan Stephens, Unsplash.

Over 4000 books were banned in US schools in the 2023/24 school year. A new report from PEN America suggests that books featuring characters of colour or LGBTQ+ themes are unfairly targeted. There are similar findings internationally, including Australia’s propensity for book bans on LGBTQ+ families or conservative Christian schools banning the Harry Potter series.

In the last school year in the US, people of colour were overrepresented in the banned books, with over a third of banned titles featuring fictional characters of colour. Almost half of the banned non-fiction books featured people of colour and almost a third of the titles featured LGBTQ+ themes or characters.

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David Burton

David Burton is a writer from Meanjin, Brisbane. David also works as a playwright, director and author. He is the playwright of over 30 professionally produced plays. He holds a Doctorate in the Creative Industries.