Content Warning: Discussion of censorship, sexual material in books, sex workers, racism, Nazi "romances," dog whistles, "cancel culture," and subversive librarians



Banned Books Week in America is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. It spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. It brings together the entire book community- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types - in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

For more information visit ala.org!

Don't forget to go listen to our Elinor Glyn for more background for this discussion!

Questions/Comments/Concerns? Email us at [email protected]!

Books we mention:

• Three Weeks by Elinor Glyn
• Fanny Hill by John Cleland
• Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
• Nichole Rose book, name got changed
• A Lady For a Duke by Alexis Hall
• Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
• Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
• Flocked by Kate Stewart (We don't necessarily recommend this author because of things she had done or said; but use your own judgement!)
• Willow Winters (same thing)

Banned and Challenged book links

• Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books: 2010-2019
• Banned Books Week
• "Book Banning" (Webb, 2009)

Resources for this episode:

• "When the Supreme Court Had to Read an 18th-Century Erotic Novel" (Little, 2019)
• "Banned Romance: What's So Bad About Happily Ever After?" (Rodale, 2013)
• "Is Censorship Ever OK, Even When It Involves Nazi Romance Heroes?" (Adams, 2015)
• Kingsley-International Pictures (Wikipedia.com)
• Kindle Direct Publishing Content Guidelines
• "5 Secrets I Know About Women (From Writing Their Weird Porn)" (Evans & Hayward, 2015)
• "Anne Rice Calls Cultural Criticism, "Censorship"" (Colyard, 2015)