Bernie Launches New Drive for Freedom to Read Protection Act (FTRPA)

On Wednesday, March 9, at a press conference on Capitol Hill, Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) announced the reintroduction in the House of Representatives of the Freedom to Read Protection Act (FTRPA), legislation that would amend Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act to protect the privacy of bookstore and library patrons. Representing independent booksellers at the press conference were Linda Ramsdell of the Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont, and Oren Teicher, chief operating officer of the American Booksellers Association (ABA).  For more information, click here.


ABA Urges Booksellers to Help Find Co-Sponsors for FTRPA

On March 2, the ABA e-mailed a letter to independent booksellers who have participated in the Campaign for Reader Privacy that called on them to urge their members of Congress to support Sander's legislation and to become a co-sponsor of the FTRPA. Attached with the letter was a template letter that booksellers can send to their Congress member.  For more information, click here.


ABFFE Defends Madison Bookseller's Free Speech Rights

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) has written to the city council in Madison, Wisconsin, to protest a pending bill that would force small business owners like Sandra Torkildson, the owner of A Room of One's Own Bookstore, to register as lobbyists.  To read more, click here.

ABFFE Board Member Joins Fray Over Four Books

Cammie Mannino, the owner of Halfway Down the Stairs bookstore in Rochester, Michigan, and an ABFFE board member, has recently spent a lot of time doing something other than selling books--she's been called on by the Rochester Board of Education to defend the freedom to read. In the past six weeks, four books being studied in the Rochester schools have come under fire by parents--one of whom formally challenged Walter Dean Meyers' "Monster" in an attempt to have it removed from the eighth-grade curriculum.  To read more, click here.

Bill Maher to Perform at ABFFE Fundraiser During BookExpo America

Comedian and author Bill Maher will perform for an audience of booksellers and other book industry professional at this year's BookExpo America benefit for the Book Industry Foundation. The exclusive, "closed" appearance on Saturday, June 4, at New York City's Town Hall theater will benefit ABFFE and the Association of American Publishers' "Get Caught Reading" campaign.  To read more, click here.