Neil GaimanApr 20, 2023

I learned today that 5 of my books are among the more than 1600 books banned in some schools right now.

https://pen.org/index-of-school-book-bans-2022/

For more information
https://pen.org/issue/free-the-books/

Banned Book List: 1,648 Books in 2021-2022 - PEN America

PEN America's fall 2022 Index of Banned Books found 1,477 instances of individual books banned, affecting 874 unique titles. This searchable banned book list includes each documented book ban in the first half of the 2022-23 school year.

PEN America
Show threadJensi ‎​

@neilhimself i can"t even fathom why people give congrats. This is absolutely horrifying.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana

Kind regards from Germany.

Apr 20, 2023 at 6:37pmWeb
Show threadLaurens 🐐Apr 20, 2023
@yaenntz They "congratulate" @neilhimself in an ironic manner.
Show threadgrinApr 20, 2023
@yaenntz @neilhimself Because it is an honour to be banned by people against education, it shows that these books had something really important to teach which was considered to be very dangerous by bigots. You cannot easily fix stupid, you may as well laugh on them.
Show threadMollyNYCApr 21, 2023

@grin @yaenntz @neilhimself

Yes. No books get banned because they’re dull, badly written, or a waste of the reader’s time.

They get banned because they’re so good they might change the reader’s opinions, or open up his or her worldview.

Damn right it’s an honor.

Show threadOpenDNA⚙️Apr 21, 2023

@yaenntz @neilhimself It's an ironic honor because all the greatest authors have books banned somewhere in the US.

It places you in the company of Mark Twain, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, J.D. Salinger, J.K. Rowling, Suzanne Collins, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison...

Show threadAnaCarlosApr 21, 2023
@yaenntz @neilhimself
We stopped banning books in Portugal in 1974, when we abolished our dictatorship. Any further attempt to ban a single book has been met with outcry and a rush to bookshops to see what the buzz was about! But in the US, as I see it from my own European perspective, books are banned because they are thought-provoking. I will always congratulate an author who leads people to think. Bonus if they lead children and young adults to think!