F213A.
How to Fight Book Bans: A Workshop with PEN America
Friday, February 9, 2024
1:45 pm to 3:00 pm
As book bans continue to mount, coordinated counterefforts to oppose book bans are essential. Writers, authors, teachers, students, publishers, editors, and institutions all have a role to play in standing up for the right to read.
This workshop with PEN America and Authors Against Book Bans will provide an overview of the book ban crisis and offer tools and talking points for engaging with your state and local elected officials and taking action to stop future censorship. You will learn how to effectively communicate in defense of the freedom to read, as well as how to identify and create strategic alliances. The workshop will be led by PEN America’s Freedom to Read program director, Kasey Meehan. Participating authors to be announced.
Participants
Kasey Meehan is the Freedom to Read Program Director at PEN America, leading our initiatives to protect the right of students to freely access literature in schools. Previously, Kasey served as the Associate Director of Postsecondary Policy at a mission-driven education research organization in Philadelphia, Research for Action. Kasey’s research centers students, educators, and school leaders’ experiences in identifying strategies for reform and capturing emerging best practices and strives to connect research to policy and program change. Kasey holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a MPA from the Fels Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, along with a Certificate in Politics.
