“Censorship on the Rise: Record Number of Books Reported in US Libraries, Says American Library Association Report”

C’is “a record”. Counted by the American Library Association (ALA), reported novels reached 2,571 in public and school libraries across the United States. UNITED STATESand jumped by 40%, in 2022 alone. “This is the highest number of censorship attempts recorded” in the last twenty years, revealed the association (the largest and oldest group in the world, with 60,000 members ) in its annual report, published on March 22.

“Until now, a book was reported by a parent or other member of the association because it was not to their liking, but these latest manifestations are more and more often the result of groups which attack several books at once. Sometimes without even having read them…” testified to the American public service radio NPR the president of the association, Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada, on April 24.

New censorship

If these attempts (formalized by requests for withdrawals of library funds) do not seem out of place in a country where representative associations of minorities and ” sensitivity readers – these proofreaders tracking down biases and stereotypes that they deem may offend the reader –, a look at the list of incriminated titles, however, invites a different reading from that of the usual “cancel culture”.

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Thus, in the top 3 of the most frequently referred books f […] Read more