“Beyond the Shelves: Tracking and Confronting the Movement to Censor Books” with Madison Markham
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm EST/GMT-5 Online Event
6 PM New York l 12 AM Vienna
AltLiberalArts presents a webinar with PEN America’s Madison Markham, who will discuss PEN America’s book ban research from the 2023-2024 school year, and what lies ahead.
Since the 2021 “parental rights” movement began as a backlash to progress made after the 2020 racial justice uprisings, book banning in public schools in the United States has skyrocketed. From over 3,000 school book bans in the 2022-2023 school year, to over 10,000 in the 2023-2024 school year, book banning is a crisis in the United States, particularly targeting books featuring diverse characters or certain subjects.
Madison Markham (she/they), is the Program Assistant for the Freedom to Read Program at PEN America, where they support PEN America’s work researching book bans and aiding grassroots advocates across the country. She has testified to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in defense of free expression and inclusivity within higher education in Florida and facilitated a roundtable on book bans with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education. They have a Bachelor’s in Sociology/Gender Studies from New College of Florida, where they helped lead student organizing efforts to protect free expression and inclusivity at the college, including co-hosting the [NEW] Commencement alternative graduation.