Resource List | 2024 SIBA Banned Books Week Toolkit

SIBA Statement on Book Bans

March 23, 2023

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance opposes efforts to ban books and censor events at independent bookstores.

(Asheville, NC) During the last year, SIBA bookstores have reported widespread efforts to ban books. They have witnessed this in their community libraries and schools and have experienced extraordinary pressure, including protests, to limit choices in their inventory, especially when books reflect the stories of those who are LGBTQ+ and/or people of color. Bookstores hosting drag storytime events have been threatened with physical violence and faced armed protests and vandalism. Authors who identify as non-binary and/or transgender have expressed concern for personal safety when visiting stores in states now contemplating or passing anti-trans legislation. Black authors have had school visits canceled and their books removed from school and public library shelves because of the perception of Critical Race Theory within the content.

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance strongly condemns these acts of censorship and intimidation, and supports the ALA’s Freedom to Read Statement, written in 1953 and still true today. We cite this passage:

“We believe that free communication is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture. We believe that these pressures toward conformity present the danger of limiting the range and variety of inquiry and expression on which our democracy and our culture depend. We believe that every American community must jealously guard the freedom to publish and to circulate, in order to preserve its own freedom to read. . .The freedom to read is guaranteed by the Constitution.”

Independent bookstores, because they are privately owned and able to curate their inventory, are uniquely positioned to safeguard the freedom to read for readers of all ages. We stand with stores carrying books under community threat of censorship and hosting events that spark protest by those who would ban book content or authors.

The mission of independent bookstores to serve their community of readers and defend free speech and access to literature and discussion of controversial ideas has never been more important during this wave of banning, intimidation, and regressive legislation. As one SIBA children’s store owner stated,  "We may become the only places left where kids see themselves in the books they read."

Linda-Marie Barrett, Executive Director Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive, Asheville, NC 28805 803.994.9530 www.sibaweb.com

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