@abfefreeexpression.bsky.social
ABFE is the free expression initiative of the American Booksellers Association.
Via @shelf-awareness.com's Alex Mutter—it's so worrying that booksellers have to deal w/harassment from bad actors, but grateful that @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social's Philomena Polefrone is helping them deal with such abuse. #FreedomToRead www.shelf-awareness.com/theshelf/202...
03.05.2025 14:46 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Bookseller Laure hosts a group of kids in a bingo game
Cookies & Thai Tea set out for Banned Books & Bites
Folks gather around the refreshments & talk books!
Bookseller Bethany shows off a box of macarons from Sara
We had an awesome Indie Bookstore Day! We focused in on Banned Book awareness with a raffle for @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social with prizes from @sarasbookmacarons.bsky.social, kids’ Banned Book Bingo, and a YA Banned Book Scavenger Hunt!
Thanks Kiao Wan Thai for the tea at our Bites event!
Black-owned bookstores are spaces not just for books but for promoting and reclaiming culture and community. We talked to the owners of some of our favorite bookstores across the country. Hear their stories, and if one is near you, go check them out this #IndieBookstoreDay: pen.org/black-owned-...
26.04.2025 15:25 — 👍 70 🔁 23 💬 1 📌 1There are so many amazing #BlackOwnedBookstores around the nation, curated so well, esp support them as Black history is eradicated from schools. Few more I love are #UncleBobbies (Philly), #LitBar (Bronx), & #OctaviasBookshelf (Pasadena). Please add your faves as well! #IndieBookstoreDay
26.04.2025 16:10 — 👍 68 🔁 21 💬 1 📌 1It's Independent Bookstore Day!
4/26 come celebrate our Independent Bookstore!
4/27 The Lynx's 1st birthday! Yoga, music by Collin Whitlock & The Wirebirds, speech at 2:15 @legroff.bsky.social plus cupcakes, karaoke.
& find limited-edition tees benefiting @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social
Post about your crawl with #dcbookcrawl and enter to win a raffle for $50!
DC bookstore crawl map. Visit six stores or more and get a prize at your final stop!
Exclusive merch! Banned Book Bingo! Music at 10am. Kids graphic novel talk and raffle at 3pm. Free ARC with purchase. Free wine 5-8pm.
Yesterday, Am*zon announced their annual sale that conveniently overlaps with Independent Bookstore Day (IBD). IBD is more than a discount. It’s about discovery, connection & PEOPLE. Algorithms don’t throw parties. Indies do. Join the #DCBookCrawl on 4/26! See what's in store at People's Book!
16.04.2025 23:57 — 👍 39 🔁 18 💬 4 📌 5Yesterday, Senator McClain struggled to answer pretty clear questions about his bill (SB 1692).
Here, he provided factually inaccurate info about the committee review and appeal process. (See ALT text for details)
Promotional poster for 'Speak Out for Books!' event on March 18, 2025, featuring advocate training against book bans by PEN America, EveryLibrary, and ABFE. The poster includes images of three speakers and a background of book spines with censored titles. Event details state it's online, free, and starts at 7:00 PM EST.
3/18! Join PEN America, @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social and @everylibrary.bsky.social for Speak Out For Books! Testifying to State Legislative Committees, a free webinar on shaping and strategizing comments to legislative committees about book ban-related bills. Register now: pen.org/event/speak-...
12.03.2025 14:16 — 👍 34 🔁 15 💬 2 📌 4
📢 Upcoming training session: "Speak Out For Books! Testifying to State Legislative Committees" featuring @penamerica.bsky.social, @everylibrary.bsky.social, and @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social!
pen.org/event/speak-...
We proudly join with @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social to stand against this executive order and the impact it will have on #FreedomtoRead.
20.02.2025 12:51 — 👍 8 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0@americanbookseller.bsky.social
11.02.2025 20:13 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Erosion of the right to read anywhere threatens the right to read everywhere.
11.02.2025 20:13 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Despite the pretense of “inciting violence,” the raid of the popular East Jerusalem bookshop was nakedly political, as the books confiscated show. The Munas must be released immediately and the Educational Bookshop must be allowed to continue its business.
11.02.2025 20:13 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
ABFE and stands with the Educational Bookshop, which was raided by Israeli police on Sunday, and its owners, booksellers Ahmad and Mahmoud Muna, who are currently under house arrest.
11.02.2025 20:13 — 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 1
More than 50 organizations representing authors, publishers, booksellers, librarians, distributors, and national and state advocacy nonprofits have signed a joint letter expressing concern that the White House EO on gender identity will lead to censorship: pen.org/press-releas...
05.02.2025 20:03 — 👍 94 🔁 33 💬 0 📌 0
ABA and ABFE are proud to join 50+ organizations in signing a joint letter expressing concern that the executive order of January 20, 2025, targeting transgender, nonbinary, intersex, and gender nonconforming people, which could lead to viewpoint-based censorship of literature.
05.02.2025 21:57 — 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
New blog post: Book Banning is not a Hoax… In Utah, it’s a Crisis! letutahread.org/blog/bookban... @everylibrary.bsky.social @aabbri.bsky.social @penamerica.bsky.social @utaheducationassoc.bsky.social @authorsguild.bsky.social @elanakarnold.bsky.social @abfefreeexpression.bsky.social
03.02.2025 00:42 — 👍 17 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 0This week, Laney Hawes from the @txfreedomread.bsky.social came on the BookED podcast is back to talk about what lawmakers are cooking up in Texas to attack the freedom to read in the 2025 legislative session. Spoiler: it doesn’t look good. sites.libsyn.com/109160/site/...
31.01.2025 22:30 — 👍 9 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
A gold, beige, orange, and pinked colored graphic, designed to look like a white memo is taped to the background. The title text reads as follows: “To learn more about the fight against book bans, follow:” and beneath is a list of organizations. From top to lop, the list of organizations reads as follows: “American Library Association, Unite Against Book Bans, Authors Against Book Bans, EveryLibrary, National Coalition Against Censorship, The Author’s Guild, Florida Freedom to Read Project, Texas Freedom to Read Project, and American Booksellers for Free Expression.
To learn more about book bans, follow: American Library Association, Unite Against Book Bans, Authors Against Book Bans, EveryLibrary, National Coalition Against Censorship, The Author’s Guild, Florida Freedom to Read Project, Texas Freedom to Read Project, American Booksellers for Free Expression.
30.01.2025 16:00 — 👍 9 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0YES!!! We LOVE our local indie bookshops! They’re some of our fiercest advocates in the fight for the freedom to read! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
30.01.2025 01:06 — 👍 15 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0Here in the Bay Area many feel largely (if not entirely) insulated from the concerns surrounding banned books. It's often either an abstract problem or elsewhere. But here's the thing: the ubiquity of Amazon, & their increasingly full-throated support of the GOP, brings it v. close to home. (1/2)
30.01.2025 04:39 — 👍 26 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 0
"Whatever the Party holds to be the truth, is the truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party." — George Orwell, "1984" (banned book)
Book bans are not a hoax. Don’t get distracted by rhetoric: censorship is rampant, books by LGBTQ+ people and people of color are being targeted, and we don’t have to stop calling out book bans when we see them. Period. #ReadingIsResistance #IReadBannedBooks
30.01.2025 15:30 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Hoaxes:
- Pizza rat
- Crop circles... probably 👀
- 1938 "War of the Worlds" broadcast
Not hoaxes:
- Climate change
- Moon landing
- BOOK BANS
