Book Bans in America: Reading and Teaching in Censored Times

How do book bans affect teaching practices?

Join authors Josh Coleman and Samuel Cohen for a timely conversation during Banned Books Week to discuss their books — "Ban Censorship, Not Books" and "Banning Books in America: Not a How-to" — which examine the growing challenges of book bans, censorship and intellectual freedom in American education. Alongside three K12 educators, the authors will explore how today's political climate has shaped classroom teaching, curriculum decisions and educators' experiences advocating for students' access to diverse perspectives. Designed with teachers, librarians, and education professionals in mind, this panel offers an opportunity to reflect on the role of literature, academic freedom and public education while engaging in meaningful dialogue about the future of teaching and learning.

A Q&A will follow the panel conversation. Copies of "Ban Censorship, Not Books" and "Banning Books in America: Not a How-to" will be available for purchase. This event is open to the public!

In relation to Josh Coleman and Jessica Early’s seed grant project, this event will follow What’s Happening in the Classroom? Part 3: Banned Books on Oct. 7 at noon. Register for both events to engage in thoughtful dialogues about how to address censorship in the classroom.

Book Bans in America: Reading and Teaching in Censored Times is co-sponsored by the Central Arizona Writing Project (CAWP).

About the speakers

Samuel Cohen is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Missouri, where he researches and teaches twentieth- and twenty-first-century American literature and culture. He is the author of "After the End of History: American Fiction in the 1990s" (University of Iowa Press, 2009) and "50 Essays: A Portable Anthology" (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2023), which will be published in its eighth edition later this year. He has also coedited "The Legacy of David Foster Wallace" (University of Iowa Press, 2012) and "The Clash Takes on the World: Transnational Perspectives on The Only Band That Matters" (Bloomsbury, 2017), and coauthored "Literature: The Human Experience", thirteenth edition (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2018). He is the series editor of "The New American Canon: The Iowa Series in Contemporary Literature and Culture". 

Josh Coleman is an assistant professor in the Department of English’s English education program. Coleman uses social science and humanities-based methods to study LGBTQ+ youth literature and educator well-being. His research on teacher resistance to classroom censorship — the “Banned Childhoods” project — is funded by a National Academy of Education and Spencer postdoctoral fellowship. Coleman is coauthor of “Restorying Young Adult Literature: Expanding Students’ Perspectives with Digital Texts” (NCTE, 2023).

For a full listing of all the Humanities Institute events, visit our events page.