Listen:
A group of authors and the nation’s largest publishers filed a lawsuit in federal court against Florida’s public officials.
They’re challenging a 2023 state law that restricts books in school libraries.
The law allows anyone in a school district to object to a classroom book that contains sexual content, and if a parent or county resident files a complaint, the book must be removed within five days and remain unavailable until the issue is resolved.
Penguin Random House, one of the world’s largest book publishing companies, joins five other publishers in the lawsuit: Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks.
The Authors Guild, along with authors Julia Alvarez, Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, Jodi Picoult, and Angie Thomas, two parents, and two students are also involved in the suit.
Dan Novack is a Vice President and Associate General Counsel of Random House.
He said the rule has caused chaos and turmoil across the state.
“In addition to the removal of books en masse, we’ve actually heard from educators that have left the profession entirely in Florida, because they just can’t do their jobs,” Novack said.
Novack says the law violates the Supreme Court precedent set in 1973 that said media content should be reviewed for obscenity as a whole for its literary, artistic, political, and scientific value.
Precedent that was extended to minors.
“We’re prepared to defend the right to read and the right to speak –that’s the author’s right, in this case- wherever it’s being imperiled, and it’s important to fight,” Novack said.
Novack says the lawsuit is focused on giving young people access to information in Florida.
Penguin Random House and the other five publishers are also involved in a lawsuit challenging book-banning provisions in Iowa. Random House is also a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by PEN America against Escambia County School Board in Florida over books being unconstitutionally removed from school libraries.
Watch the full interview :
7 Responses to “Top publishers sue Florida over law that restricts books in schools”
Leave a Reply
Hell yes- I'm glad to see publishers standing up for the right to read!
They're standing up for their profits.
If your rights got in the way of that, they'd stomp on you just the same.
Not true. The suit includes authors as well as pupils and teachers
I am for protecting our students under middle school age against having any content material sexually explicit; LBGTQ+, satanic and transgender. I'll even say witchcraft books as well. These books produce evil thoughts, actions and not a good influence on our younger generation. Let them decide after 15. Some are taught good value at home while other kid are left to their own b/c both parents have to work-NO guidance and filters to help child understand.Gail
Please explain what evil thoughts arise from learning about LGBT+ issues in a non sexually explicit way (eg some children have two dads) The idea that homosexuality is evil has caused an enormous amount of harm both to people subjected to prejudice but also to individuals who torture themselves because they have been taught to think their natural inclinations are evil or wicked. The vast majority of sex crimes are perpetrated by heterosexual males. There have been homosexuals throughout history and science shows that it is not a learned taste but an innate condition. Also, where school is concerned, the teachers are the trained professional guidance that can explain things that children find confusing, this is not solely the job of the parents.
If you're scared of ideas influencing your children, you should reconsider your own ideas and how you relate to your own children.
If the law states that all books to which someone objects must be removed, I hope somebody (some bodies?) objects to ALL the remaining books. That might trigger some grown-up thinking