Free Expression

Booksellers who would like to take advantage of a special, limited-time membership offer to join both the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and PEN American Center for just $50, the usual price for ABFFE membership alone, need to sign up by Thursday, May 1.

Booksellers can now take advantage of a special, limited-time membership offer to join both the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and PEN American Center for just $50, the usual price for ABFFE membership alone.

Bestselling authors will read in support of First Amendment rights at "Something to Hide: Writers Against the Surveillance State," a program presented by Pen American Center and the American Civil Liberties Union at next month's BookExpo America. The event, which is co-sponsored by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) is joining other members of Media Coalition in filing a court challenge to a new Indiana law that requires mainstream bookstores to register with the government if they sell "sexually explicit materials."

On Monday, April 7, state legislators in Arizona rejected House Bill 2660, a proposal that would make businesses financially liable for creating or distributing books, movies, and other media that "cause" a serious crime.   According to the bill's sponsor, Rep. Warde Nichols (R), "the proposal was designed to punish those who publish, produce, or disseminate underground pornography that depicts actual rape," reported the Arizona Republic.  

In response to strong opposition by booksellers and other supporters of First Amendment rights, the Colorado legislature has killed a bill banning the sale to minors of works that are "harmful" to minors because of their sexual content.

The members of the Campaign for Reader Privacy (CRP) -- the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, and PEN American Center -- published an open letter calling on Congress to pass legislation that would restore the safeguards for reader privacy eliminated by the USA Patriot Act.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) has condemned a new Indiana law that requires mainstream bookstores to register with the government if they sell "sexually explicit materials." Indiana H.B. 1042 was signed into law last week by Gov. Mitch Daniels, despite the protests of ABFFE, the Great Lakes Booksellers Association, 15 independent booksellers, and others who sought to dissuade the governor from approving the legislation.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA), 15 independent Indiana booksellers, and Borders Books and Music are urging Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels to veto a bill that would require bookstores to register with the state if they intend to sell "sexually explicit materials." In a letter to the governor, they declared that House Bill 1042 "violates the First Amendment rights of Indiana booksellers and their customers."

David Hajdu Photo: Michelle Heimerman