Working alongside Bookshop.org and nonprofit digital publisher Electric Literature, tech entrepreneur Paul English and activist Joyce Linehan have launched BannedBooksUSA, which will provide restricted and challenged books to libraries, schools, and anyone living in Florida for just a $3.99 shipping charge.
English says he resolved to take action after observing the state's recent surge in educational censorship.
"It was watching the rhetoric around controlling what information our citizens should get access to, what they shouldn't get access to," English, who donated $100,000 to the project, tells New Times. "When I saw some of the books that were being challenged specifically, it just seemed insane. Like Toni Morrison, her works are really important."
Paul English is a Boston-based computer scientist and philanthropist who cofounded travel-booking search giant Kayak.com.
Photo by RFong via Flickr
Morrison's acclaimed novel The Bluest Eye was restricted from student access in a dozen school districts in Florida this past school year, according to the nonprofit PEN America.
BannedBooksUSA says ten percent of the cover price of each book delivered will directly support Florida independent bookstores. For every order placed, one dollar will also be donated to the Florida Freedom to Read Project, a grassroots nonprofit created by a group of Florida public school parents dedicated to anti-censorship efforts and intellectual freedom.
Andy Hunter, chief executive officer and founder of Bookshop.org, says the initiative will provide much-needed support for libraries and educational institutions and show people why these books are so valuable.
"It is not hyperbole to say that I feel like books saved my life. The idea that kids aren't going to have access to some of the books that profoundly impacted me — that those are being pulled from their school libraries or that teachers may get fired for teaching a book is really scary to me," Hunter tells New Times. "I'm concerned it will be really bad for kids and I wanted to fight against it so kids can benefit from reading these books."
A new report from PEN America found Florida has surpassed Texas as the state with the most book removals in public school libraries and classrooms. Forty percent of U.S. book bans occurred in the Sunshine State. More than 1,400 school book bans took place in Florida during the 2022-2023 school year, according to the report "Banned in the USA: The Mounting Pressure to Censor."
BannedBooksUSA will offer books based on lists compiled by PEN America, Electric Literature, and the American Library Association, tracking book removals in school districts across Florida. Purchases are limited to one book per order to any Florida address.
"We want to make sure that if someone wants to read any of the other hundreds of books that have been pulled off shelves, we provide a low-cost way for them to do that," English adds. "We noticed a lot of people fighting these bans, and we are arm-in-arm with them, trying to fight from every angle. We want to keep the issue alive in the media so regular people can read about it and say, 'Yeah, this does sound crazy,' and maybe make some changes."
The surge in book removals and challenges in Florida came in the wake of the passage of legislation, such as the Parental Rights in Education Act (AKA "Don't Say Gay") and the Stop WOKE Act as well as new laws that facilitate school book challenges in the state. One woman has filed more than 100 book challenges in Escambia County Public Schools since last fall.
"You hear a lot, 'It's not a ban. They're not eliminating. You could still go to Barnes and Noble,'" Raegan Miller, director of development for the Florida Freedom to Read Project, tells New Times. "They are removing access. That's what we're seeing in Florida, and so this is allowing access back to people who otherwise wouldn't have access to books. This gives us the opportunity to get books back in the hands of students and families so that they can be exposed to different types of literature."
If these bans continue, Miller says, she fears the public school curriculum will be further censored.
"What happens to the electives? Are arts too woke?" she tells New Times. "Does music lead you down a path of destruction? We've heard all of these ridiculous things."
Head of Boston Venture Studios, English is a Boston-native computer scientist and philanthropist who cofounded Kayak, a travel-booking search website that was sold to Priceline.com for $1.8 billion in November 2012. English has contributed to the racial justice project King Boston and Partners In Health, a nonprofit that focuses on improving healthcare in developing countries.
Linehan, a partner in BannedBooksUSA, made her name as a public relations specialist and veteran band manager in Beantown, working with bands such as the Smithereens and the Lemonheads, before taking on roles in local and national political campaigns and working as a policy director for then-Boston mayor Marty Walsh.
English says he and his partners hope to expand the initiative to other states like Texas, where book banning is rampant, and partner with local bookstores to distribute challenged books.
"There needs to be more discussion, and I support anyone who is going to fight censorship," he says.
