Free Expression

On Wednesday, February 13, the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee ignored the pleas of booksellers and voted 4 - 2 to approve a bill that bans the sale to minors of books and magazines that are "harmful to minors." Matthew Miller, general manager of the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver and Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and Lisa Knudsen, executive director of the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association, addressed the committee before the vote to express conce

On February 7, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) joined groups opposing both the Central Intelligence Agency censorship of Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House and President George Bush's effort to alter legislation that strengthens the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression has condemned efforts by computer hackers to disrupt the operations of online bookseller Abunga.com.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) is looking for bookstores to host reporters' talks about growing efforts to force journalists to reveal confidential sources.

Bestselling author and Daily Show regular, Lewis Black will headline this year's BookExpo America (BEA) Book Industry Foundation Benefit. BEA Industry Vice President and Show Manager Lance Fensterman made the announcement this week.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) is seeking bookstores to host reporters who want to speak to the public about growing efforts to force journalists to reveal their confidential sources.

Jon Scieszka Named National Ambassador for Young People's Literature The Library of Congress has named Jon Scieszka (The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, Viking) as the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. The appointment is for a two-year term. As National Ambassador, Scieszka will encourage the appreciation of young people's literature throughout the U.S. through both personal and media appearances.

ABFFE Chooses You Have No Rights as Book of the Month The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression recently named its Book of the Month for December: You Have No Rights: Stories of America in an Age of Repression by Matthew Rothschild (New Press).

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) have condemned a decision to remove two books from the ninth grade optional reading list at Westhampton Beach High School in Westhampton Beach, New York. On Tuesday, December 4, the Westhampton Beach Board of Education voted 4 - 3 to remove The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult and Cradle and All by James Patterson from a list of 300 books that students can use to select reading assignments.

High school reading selections and the teachers who assign them are under fire in Texas, suburban New York, and West Virginia. Local booksellers, bestselling authors, as well as parents and school administrators, have become involved in controversies in which advocates of free speech and intellectual openness are battling charges of child endangerment and promoting pornography.