Photo by Riley Benson | The Crow’s Nest
By Riley Benson
Banned Books Week 2024 kicks off from Sept. 22 to 28, with students and St. Petersburg locals gearing up for a week-long stand against censorship. The week aims to highlight the growing national debate over free access to literature and the pushback against efforts to restrict certain titles from libraries and schools.
In Sept. 2023, Florida officially became the state with the most book bans. There was a 33% increase in book bans nationwide compared to the previous year, with approximately 40% being in Florida, according to PEN America.
“Limitations against books, particular identities and certain ideas or historical facts are ways of demonizing, erasing the experiences of, and marginalizing different groups of people,” said Julie Armstrong, an English professor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg who focuses on social issues in literature. “We’re effectively putting Florida’s public school students at an intellectual disadvantage. How will they compete for jobs with students around the country who have access to a wide range of perspectives?”
Book bans are taking place across the state, with most decisions being left up to each district’s school board officials.
While many consider Pinellas County a more “progressive” place to live in Florida, the area still faces its share of book bans.
The Pinellas County School Board reportedly reviewed 30 books in Sept. 2023 to see if they should be removed from schools, along with their policies for controversial instructional methods. Five were removed, and 11 were considered suitable only for high school juniors and seniors, according to reporting by the Tampa Bay Times.
While books aren’t being removed as much in Pinellas as other Florida counties, it’s still an ongoing issue that’s making headlines. The statewide and county attempts at this censorship of books dishearten many local residents, as the decisions affect librarians, educators, students and many others.
“Throughout my education and career in librarianship, I have always focused my work on fighting censorship and promoting intellectual freedom,” said Karrie Ballis, a librarian in St. Petersburg. “It is extremely disheartening to see prominent figures and organizations go after materials that contain diverse characters. Being a librarian and fighting for the freedom to read under these conditions can be exhausting and fear-inducing.”
However, Pinellas County residents are working to show that they are against book bans and to allow everyone access to the books that are being removed.
A local organization, Keep St. Pete Lit, is actively working to celebrate and promote St. Petersburg’s literary community through art, education and events, including working against the censorship of books.
In 2023, Keep St. Pete Lit partnered with American Stage Theater Company and Tombolo Books, a local St. Petersburg bookstore, to create a banned book library.
“People can purchase the books at Tombolo in-person or through our website and then we pick them up and take them to American Stage where they keep the books in a free lending library in their lobby,” explained Maureen McDole, the founder and CEO of Keep St. Pete Lit. “People have bought over 500 books to put into our banned book library.”
Co-owner and founder of Tombolo Books, Alsace Walentine, understands the importance of freedom in reading and creating the Banned Book Library.
“[Keep St. Pete Lit] reached out to us to help be the vendor. So we helped them put lists on our website of which books had been challenged,” Walentine said.
When books are being challenged, it can be a lengthy process. When a book is under review in Pinellas, it’s pulled from all libraries until the proceeding is complete. This makes the book unavailable to students for months, she explained.
“We got a lot of encouragement from people saying they want to help stop the book banning. They were so happy that they could contribute just by buying one or many books to donate to help keep the conversation going,” she said.
In the past, Tombolo hosted a banned book club where patrons could read and discuss books that were prohibited nationally and statewide. The store also features merchandise and an entire display dedicated to banned books and educating readers on the current status of the publications.
Tombolo Books also collaborates with the African American Heritage Association, a local non-profit, to have monthly “Community Conversations.” Some of those conversations are to educate more people about banned books, like its talk last year entitled “You Can Ban The Books But You Can’t Ban The People.”
Meanwhile, closer to home, students at the USF St. Petersburg campus can also discuss the importance of banned books with the USFSP Book Club on Sept. 25.
While book censorship is a major ongoing issue in Florida, citizens of Pinellas County are working to fight back against the legislation. Locals are also encouraged to help the cause by donating to community-banned book libraries through Tombolo Books’ registry page.
In the upcoming 2024 election, multiple Pinellas County school board member seats are on the ballot. School board members are able to put books up to be reviewed by other members, on if they should be remove from schools or not. In 2023, Stephanie Meyer brought forth 25 books to be reviewed by the committee.
Concerned locals can also write to district legislators about the issue of banned books.
“The trend of book banning, especially without going through the proper, formal channels set forth by the school board, is extremely frightening to me,” said Ballis. “However, I feel hopeful with the pushback I’ve seen in our community and the young voices who have been standing up for their freedom to read. If anything, the book-banning effort has demonstrated the importance of voting in our local elections.”
