Penguin Random House sues Florida school district over book bans

Penguin Random House, together with PEN America and authors and parents of children affected by book bans carried out by a Florida school district, have filed a lawsuit calling for books on race, racism and LGBTQ identities to be returned to shelves.

According to the lawsuit, filed with the federal court, the Escambia County School board’s removal and restriction of access to books discussing race, racism, and LGBTQ identities, against the recommendations of the district review committee charged with evaluating book challenges, violates the First Amendment.

PEN America states that “by ignoring these recommendations, the school district made clear that its interests are in censoring certain ideas and viewpoints, not pedagogy, and that it is willing to allow an extremist minority to substitute its political agenda for the judgement of educators and parents".

It added: “Ensuring that students have access to books on a wide range of topics and expressing a diversity of viewpoints supports a core function of public education, preparing students to be thoughtful and engaged citizens.

“In contravention of these basic principles, the lawsuit alleges, Escambia County has set out to exclude certain ideas from their school libraries by removing or restricting books, some of which have been on the shelves for years—even decades. This lawsuit brings together authors whose books have been banned, parents and students in the district who cannot access the books, and a publisher in a first-of-its-kind challenge to unlawful censorship.”

The lawsuit further contends that the school district and school board are violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution because the books being singled out are disproportionately books by non-white and/or LGBTQ authors, and often address themes or topics related to race or LGBTQ identity.

Nihar Malaviya, c.e.o of Penguin Random House, said of the legal action: “Books have the capacity to change lives for the better, and students in particular deserve equitable access to a wide range of perspectives. Censorship, in the form of book bans like those enacted by Escambia County, are a direct threat to democracy and our constitutional rights. We stand by our authors, their books, and the teachers, librarians, and parents who champion free expression. We are proud to join forces with our longtime partner PEN America.”

The authors involved in the suit, all of whom have either already had their books removed by the district and/or restricted from student access, include author and children’s book illustrator Sarah Brannen, young adult fiction authors David Levithan, George M Johnson and Ashley Hope Pérez, and children’s book author Kyle Lukoff.

Suzanne Nossel, c.e.o. of PEN America, commented: “In Escambia County, state censors are spiriting books off shelves in a deliberate attempt to suppress diverse voices. In a nation built on free speech, this cannot stand. The law demands that the Escambia County School District put removed or restricted books back on library shelves where they belong."

Nadine Farid Johnson, counsel and managing director of PEN America Washington and Free Expression Programs, said “the targeted book removals we are seeing in Escambia County are blatantly unconstitutional attempts to silence and stigmatise. The government should not foster censorship by proxy, allowing one person to decide what ideas are out of bounds for all."