News & Features

PEN America released a memo with preliminary book banning numbers, showing a huge increase in banned titles from the previous school year; Carole Boston Weatherford is the 2024 Young People's Poet Laureate; We Need Diverse Books honored by Library of Congress; and more.

Documents show the high cost of book challenges and legal battles over censorship in Utah and Florida school districts; challenged books stay on shelves in Watertown, NY, and Buncombe County, NC; and more.

And Tango Makes Three is one of three dozen books that will be back on school shelves in Nassau County, FL, thanks to a settlement of a lawsuit against the district. Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed against a Texas public library is headed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

These short story collections center diverse characters and stories in creepy, readable tales.

The 10 titles on the longlist include fiction, nonfiction, and novels-in-verse, as well as one author previously honored in the category: Randy Ribay, who was a finalist in 2019. 

The censorship-related legal battles continue as Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Club, Harper Collins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Sourcebooks, The Authors Guild, Julia Alvarez, John Green, Laurie Halse Anderson, Jodi Picoult, and Angie Thomas sue Florida; and the Department of Justice files a brief in support of the lawsuit against the Cobb County (GA) School District.

Gale offers comprehensive guides to mental health for teens. This three-book series tackles a range of mental health challenges.

Debut author Craig Kofi Farmer spoke with SLJ about lovably chaotic characters, writing through grief, and the gravity and responsibility of honoring strong ancestors.

The nonprofit advocacy group's week-long virtual event will be a celebration of libraries, reading, and the First Amendment with author panels, advocacy education sessions, and more.