Since 2022, Beaufort, South Carolina has been house to a debate about ebook banning and faculty curriculum censorship that continues to be one of many largest censorship tales of 2025. Simply final week, the South Carolina State Division of Schooling was speculated to vote on whether or not ten extra books needs to be faraway from faculty libraries. (The vote has been tabled till subsequent month.)
As my colleague Kelly Jensen has defined in her diligent ongoing protection, ebook bans are about way over the books in query. They’re intentional, coordinated makes an attempt to tear down publicly funded establishments, erode First Modification rights, and erase the identities, tales, and experiences of LGBTQ+ of us and other people of colour. A brand new documentary known as Banned Collectively brings these truths to gentle, following three scholar activists from Beaufort as they work to combat a 2022 ban that eliminated 97 titles from public faculty libraries. Banned Collectively additionally options librarians and educators whose lives and work have been disrupted by ebook bans and threats from far-right activists, authors whose work has been focused, and politicians at each degree of presidency who’re working to guard mental freedom and freedom of expression.
It’s a robust, painful, inspiring, and infuriating watch, and it’s excellent for sharing with household, associates, and neighbors who’re or open to studying extra about precisely how deep and widespread ebook banning efforts are and what to do about them. Banned Collectively is streaming now on Apple TV+.
Hear producer Allyson Rice and producer/director Tom Wiggins talk about the making of the documentary on this episode of the Ebook Riot Podcast.
