censorship
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Writers Versus Censorship and Repression
For the Guardian, Sian Cain reports on recent efforts from high-profile writers to push China to release Nobel Laureate and poet Liu Xiaobo from prison. According to Cain, Xiaobo was detained for “inciting subversion of state power,” and his supporters, including Margaret Atwood…
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You’re Such a Gollum
A man is facing two years in prison after comparing Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to the Lord of the Rings character, Gollum. However, the judge in the case isn’t sure that the comparison is really an insult: The judge adjourned…
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Saudi Arabia to Execute Poet
Saudi Arabia, an American ally, sentenced a poet to death for renouncing Islam, although it may have been retribution for posting online a video of police lashing a man in the street. Poets around the world criticized the execution. One…
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GOP Candidate Would Censor Free Speech at Universities
Tenured professors might soon be a thing of the past, and that could prove particularly frightening if one Republican presidential candidate gets a hold of the Department of Education. Tenure protections were created in order to foster original thinking on…
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Playboy to Focus on Writing
Ray Bradbury, Joseph Heller, Margaret Atwood, Jack Kerouac, and Kurt Vonnegut all found homes for their stories in Playboy. Now the publication better known for the highly photoshopped pictures of naked women plans to focus on its articles—by March 2016, the…
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Censorship in College Newspapers
At the Atlantic, David R. Wheeler examines recent attempts to limit freedom of the press on college campuses, tracking conflicts between university officials and college newspapers and court cases: In 2005, students at Governors State University in Illinois lost a…
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Happy Banned Books Week!
The point is not to rank inflammatory books like game highlights. It’s to remind readers that information hasn’t always been free, and that we have librarians to thank for its freedom. Huffington Post’s Maddie Crum explores why we celebrate Banned…
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Books Win!
For Slate, Ruth Graham suggests that improved access to books and a decline in censorship has turned Banned Books Week into “crock”. So “instead of hand-wringing about a nonexistent wave of censorship,” Graham encourages readers to think about the week with…
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Agency President Defends New Zealand Book Ban
Last week, New Zealand banned the novel Into the River, the country’s first ban in over twenty years. The country’s Film and Literature Board of Review banned the sale and distribution of the award winning book. Now, Don Mathieson, president…
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New Zealand Just Banned a Book: A Rumpus Roundup
New Zealand, an otherwise seemingly modern nation, has just banned a book. Ted Dawe’s Into the River was banned this week in the island nation where it is now a crime to supply, display, or distribute the book with fines starting…
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Reading Deemed Criminal for Chelsea Manning
The Federal Bureau of Prisons regulations, as investigated by The Atlantic, state their right to prohibit any publications found “to be detrimental to the security, good order, or discipline of the institution or if it might facilitate criminal activity.” Chelsea…
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The Curious Incident of Censorship
A Florida school has removed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time from its reading list, reports the Guardian. It’s not the first time the book has been deemed controversial, and author Mark Haddon had this to say about…