|
ABFFE
UPDATE
May 22, 2008 Previously
in ABFFE Update
Volume 10,
Number 5
ABFFE Events at BookExpo America: Judy Blume, New FREADOM
Bookmarks, and More!
Judy Blume will sign
books at BookExpo America (BEA) on behalf of ABFFE. Blume will sign
Soupy Saturdays with the Pain and the Great One (Random House) on
Friday, May 30, at 2 p.m., in the booksellers lounge in Room 515 of the
West Building of the Los Angeles Convention Center.
On Saturday morning,
ABFFE President Chris Finan will participate in a panel about censorship
of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and other frequently
challenged books. The panel, entitled, “Obscene in the Extreme: Why
Books Still Get Banned,” will also feature Luis Rodriguez, author of
Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A. (Simon and
Schuster/Touchstone) and Rick Wartzman, author of the forthcoming
Obscene in the Extreme: The Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck's
The Grapes of Wrath (Public Affairs). The panel will be held in
Room 402A of the Los Angeles Convention Center at 11:00 a.m.
Click here to read more.
Saturday night,
bestselling author and Daily Show regular Lewis Black will
perform at BEA’s Book Industry Foundation Benefit at 9:00 p.m. at the
Orpheum Theater, near the convention center in downtown Los Angeles.
Proceeds from Black's performance will benefit ABFFE and the Association
of American Publishers' Get Caught Reading Campaign. Tickets for
Black’s performance cost $35 and are available online at the BEA
website,
www.bookexpoamerica.com.
Throughout the show,
ABFFE will be located in the ABA lounge and will offer information about
all of its activities, including Banned Books Week, the new Kids’ Right
to Read Project, the ABFFE Book of the Month, and the FREADOM gift card
program. Media Coalition, ABFFE’s legislative and legal watchdog, will
provide the latest information about censorship activity at the state
and federal level, including the new lawsuit challenging the Indiana
bookstore registration law.
ABFFE will also introduce a FREADOM bookmark that independent bookstores
can use to show their support for the freedom to read. The bookmark
features Roger Roth’s very popular image of the Statue of Liberty
reading a book. Click
here to preview
the bookmark.
Supreme Court Upholds Child Pornography Law
On May 19, the Supreme
Court upheld a child pornography law that makes it a crime to “pander”
material as child pornography even if it is not child pornography.
ABFFE had joined other members of Media Coalition in filing an amicus
brief in the case, U.S. v. Williams. In the view of the 11th
Circuit Court of Appeals, the law creates the possibility that a
bookseller could be convicted of child pornography for offering to sell
material that is constitutionally protected or does not depict children
at all.
In a 7-2 ruling, the
Supreme Court rejected the reasoning of the 11th Circuit and
the amicus brief filed by ABFFE and others. Writing for the majority,
Justice Scalia declared that it is clear Congress meant the law to apply
only to those who intentionally market material as child pornography. “We
are disappointed that the Supreme Court did not recognize the problem of
vagueness identified by the 11th Circuit," ABFFE President Chris Finan
said. "However, we take some comfort in the fact that the Court
has declared that the law applies only to those who intentionally market
material as child pornography. It effectively narrowed the
statute, making it less likely that a bookseller could ever be charged."
ABFFE Leads Booksellers in Challenges to Unconstitutional Laws in
Oregon and Indiana
On April 24, six
Oregon booksellers joined ABFFE and a coalition of groups in filing a
lawsuit in federal district court in Portland challenging a new Oregon
law that unconstitutionally restricts the display and sale of books and
magazines that are protected by the First Amendment. House Bill 2843
makes it a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail to allow a
minor under 13 to view or purchase a “sexually explicit” work. The law
does not include a requirement that a book or magazine be judged as a
whole in determining whether it is illegal; such a test may exempt works
that contain only a few sexually explicit images or passages. In
addition, there is no exemption for material that has serious literary
artistic, political or scientific value for minors.
Click here to read more.
On May 7, booksellers
joined book publishers, video and recording retailers, and an
Indianapolis art museum in challenging a new Indiana law that requires
any store that sells even a single "sexually explicit" book, magazine,
video or recording to register with the state and pay a $250 license
fee.
"Sexually explicit" is defined so broadly that the law could apply to
bookstores that sell mainstream novels and other artistic works with
sexual content as well as educational books about sexuality and sexual
health. Attorneys for the plaintiffs hope that there will be a hearing
on their motion for a preliminary injunction before the law goes into
effect on July 1.
Click here to read more.
ABFFE Book of
the Month for May is "Bush's Law"
 The
ABFFE Book of the Month for May is Bush’s Law by Eric
Lichtblau (Pantheon), 978-0375424922. Lichtblau, who covers the Justice Department for the
New York Times, reveals the struggle that began in the government
immediately after the 9/11 attacks between those who advocated an
unlimited extension of executive power to meet the emergency and those
who fought to preserve civil liberties. Lichtblau won a Pulitzer Prize
for his role in revealing the fact that the National Security Agency was
spying on Americans in violation of the law.
Click
here to
read an interview with the author.
To read about recent
ABFFE Book of the Month selections, click
here.
Show Your Support for Freadom!
ABFFE's
popular, newly-redesigned “freadom” t-shirts, buttons, bookmarks, and bumper
stickers are available during Banned Books Week and all year round.
To
order online, visit the ABFFE store.
|
