https://ncac.org Bobby reads from The Phantom Tollbooth to help celebrate Banned Books at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Subscribe to our channel or visit NCAC online for more readings throughout Banned Books Week!
https://ncac.org Jenny reads from The Great Gatsby to help celebrate Banned Books at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Subscribe to our channel or visit NCAC online for more readings throughout Banned Books Week!
Artists and action groups join NCAC in letter to museum. Leave your comment of support!
Check out our 2012 Banned Books Virtual Readout videos recorded at the Brooklyn Book Festival, including a passage from the infamous Fifty Shades of Gray.
What's your favorite banned or challenged book?
Board members in East Penn high school recognized that voting to remove Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep and Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test without a formal review would have constitutional implications. The Kids' Right to Read Project pointed out this fact in a letter to the board after a single board member motioned to axe the books, mislabeling them "pornographic."
On October 2, celebrate Banned Books Week with an evening of stirring readings from erotic classics at Fifty Shades of Banned: A Celebration of Erotic Literature. The event starts at 8 PM at the Village Pourhouse on 64 3rd Ave (11th Street Entrance, across from Webster Hall) and benefits NCAC and Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Join NCAC for our annual Celebration of Free Speech and Its Defenders on Monday, November 12 at Tribeca 360° in New York City!
Visit our registration page for sponsorship opportunities and tickets.
Though no formal complaint had been filed and despite the fact that both titles had already been upheld by a reconsideration committee in previous years, a Board Member in East Penn School District in Emmaus, PA, motioned to nix Prep and Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test from the district's summer reading lists.
Though no formal complaint had been filed, district officials in Enfield, CT thought it best to cut the graphic novel Sidescrollers from its summer reading list, after a citizen--who is not even a parent in the district--voiced her concerns about the book's content to members of the media and to the school board.
The Kids' Right to Read Project, a joint intiative of NCAC and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, supported in part by AAP and the CBLDF, sent a letter to the members of the school board, urging them to follow their own procedures and to return the book.
The Kids' Right to Read Project tackled two separate -- but similar -- challenges to books featured on summer reading lists: Sidescrollers, a graphic novel by Matt Loux, was removed in Enfield, CT; in Emmaus, PA, a board member has motioned to remove Prep and Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test from the list. No official parental complaint was filed in either case.
NCAC weighed in on the controversy surrounding Prague High School Valedicatorian Kaitlin Nootbaar's use of the word "hell" in her gradution speech. In a letter to the Superindendent of the Oklahoma School District, NCAC and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), urged the district to give Nootbaar the diploma she rightfully earned.
The Frederick County Board of Education decided to retain the textbook Social Studies Alive! Our Community and Beyond, which had come under challenge after parents objected to "left-leaning" or "socialist" statements in the text. The Kids' Right to Read Project issued a letter urging the Board not to remove the book because of objections to its content.
Copyright claims and creative freedom clash once again in the case of 3C, a recent play by David Adjmi. The play is a parody of the 1970s sitcom Three’s Company, and, as such, should constitute fair use. Nevertheless, the owners of Three's Company sent Adjmi a letter claiming copyright infringement and demanding that Adjmi cease further performances of the play anywhere.
From left to right: YFEP Film Contest Winners Patrick Rooks, Caitlin Wolper, Jake Gogats, Summer Lee, and Urban Word NYC Youth Performer Amani Breanna We appreciate everyone who came out for a fun day of youth-made films at our 2011 Youth Voices Uncensored screening at the New York Film Academy. In addition to the films that won our Free Expression [...]
The Kids' Right to Read Project joined with partner organizations in writing a letter to the Fremont, CA School Board, warning against another rejection of the book Bastard Out of Carolina without sound pedagogical reasons. KRRP also wrote a letter in 2011 about the board's rejection of Tony Kushner's pulitzer-prize winning play Angels in America.
In July, 2009, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FCC's "Indecency" Policy, which prohibited "single uses of vulgar words," was unconstitutional, violating the First Amendment rights of broadcasters. In April, the Justice Department appealed to the Supreme Court over the ongoing confusion on the FCC's enforcement of moral standards in broadcasting, stating that the Appeals Court [...]
The effort in New York State to combat bullying in schools is "deeply flawed", according to the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), which has urged New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo not to sign the recently passed S.7740/A.I0712 bill into law. In a letter sent after the announcement of the bill's passage, NCAC praised the goals of the bill but warned of language so vague and overbroad that it "will likely create more problems than it solves."
The free speech organizations issued a letter to the Library Board of Trustees in Greenville, SC urging them to retain Alan Moore's graphic novel Neonomicon. The book, which is intended for an adult audience and was shelved in the adult section, has come under fire after a patron complained her teenage daughter had read it.
Patricia Polacco's In Our Mothers' House is a story about love and family. But its the non-traditional nature of the family which has drawn complaints from parents, resulting in restricted access. NCAC objects to the district's response to these objections and said as much in a letter to the Superintendent.
Seven organizations joined with the Kids' Right to Read Project on a letter urging the Erie School Board to reconsider its ban on Todd Parr's The Family Book (Little, Brown and Company) and all materials endorsed by GLSEN. The book was removed from schools because of objections to a page saying "some families have two moms or two dads."
NCAC organized a number of free speech groups in a letter to the Harford County Public Library, criticizing its exclusion of E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey (Vintage). The library has stated it will not buy the book, despite demand from patrons, because of a categorical ban on "pornography."
Date: Thursday, June 21st, 2012
Time: 7:30 PM
Address: 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117
Order Tickets Online or call 860-768-4228
Read an interview with Judy in the Hartford Courant!
The National Coalition Against Censhorship was thrilled to hear that officials in Brevard County decided to reverse their ban on the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey and return the book to circulation. NCAC urged county officials to reconsider the ban in three letters this month, including a joint letter with the ACLU.
Joint letter includes American Booksellers Foundation For Free Expression, Association for American Publishers, and PEN American Center. The letter was quoted by a New York Times article about the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.
The Dirty Cowboy, a children's book about a cowboy taking his annual bath was removed from school libraries after a parent objected to the cowboy's partial nudity, calling it "pornography" The Kids' Right to Read Project is urging the book's return.
Brevard County, FL resident Linda Tyndall was appalled to hear that the best-selling, wildly popular novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" had been removed from her area's public libraries. NCAC interviewed Tyndall this week, asking her about the ban and why adults should be free to read erotica.
Students in a high school English class in Sumner County, T.N. chose John Green's award-winning Looking for Alaska as their post-exam in-class reading. Within a week, a single complaint led to a county-wide ban. The Kids' Right to Read Project is standing against this sudden, wide-reaching ban. Read our letter and watch the author's video statement.
National Coalition Against Censorship talks to fans of "Fifty Shades of Grey" about libraries that have banned their beloved trilogy, and erotica in general. Shot outside an appearance by "Grey" author E.L. James at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in NYC. Support NCAC and read banned books! Created by Acacia O'Connor and Michael O'Neil
UPDATE: New video. NCAC speaks out against the removal of the best-selling Fifty Shades of Grey from the Brevard County Library system in Florida as an affront to First Amendment rights. Read our letter to county officials.
From left to right: YFEP Film Contest Winners Patrick Rooks, Caitlin Wolper, Jake Gogats, Summer Lee, and Urban Word NYC Youth Performer Amani Breanna We appreciate everyone who came out for a fun day of youth-made films at our annual Youth Voices Uncensored screening at the New York Film Academy. In addition to the films that won our contest, we [...]
Saturday, March 31st
1pm-4pm
New York Film Academy Screening Room
100 East 17th Street in Manhattan
N, Q, R, W, 4, 5, 6, L Trains to Union Square
PayPal, the dominant processor of Internet payments, retracted its threat (Reuters) to close the accounts of online booksellers who sell works that include descriptions of rape, incest and bestiality.
PayPal, which plays a dominant role in processing online sales, has taken full advantage of the vast and open nature of the Internet for commercial purposes, but is now holding free speech hostage by clamping down on sales of certain types of erotica.
The company’s threat to close the accounts of online booksellers who sell works that include descriptions of rape, incest and bestiality would have a chilling effect on the sale of books that adults have a legal right to buy
We are calling on Villanova to reverse this decision and the damage it will cause to academic freedom within the university community
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal criticizing “dark” themes in YA literature set off a firestorm of protest: authors such as Sherman Alexie and Chris Crutcher, among others, passionately and eloquently defended novels that delve into previously “taboo” topics.
Updates on Video Games and the FCC
Issue 115, Winter 2011 In Republic, MO there’s a battle going on over the hearts and minds – and religion and morality – of public school students. The complaint that started the debate says: It is an abomination to God to expose children to books like Slaughterhouse Five . . . It is difficult to understand how a school board [...]
Show your support for NCAC at our Annual Celebration of Free Speech and Its Defenders on November 29 at Tribeca Three Sixty° in Manhattan. Don Weisberg, President, Penguin Young Readers Group will Chair. We will honor Laurie Halse Anderson, Paul M. Smith, and Kaylie Jones. For more information, including tickets and other sponsorship opportunities, see our online event journal [...]
