What’s a book ban anyway? Depends on who you ask; NPR, June 10, 2024

Elizabeth Blair , NPR; What’s a book ban anyway? Depends on who you ask

""Book ban" is one of those headline-ready terms often used by the news media, including NPR, for stories about the surge in book challenges across the U.S.

The American Library Association launched its annual Banned Books Week in 1982. There are banned book clubs. States have introduced or passed lawsthat’ve been called bans on book bans. Meanwhile, many people fighting to get books removed from school libraries are not fans of the term book ban.

The practice of censoring books has been around for centuries. But what does it actually mean to ban a book today? The answer depends on who you ask. Here are a handful of definitions from people entrenched in the issue:"