Banned Books 01: Race and racism in the USA

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was inspired by the black lives matter movement and explores police brutality — so why is it being taken off library shelves in the US?

Banned Books is a new series that looks at what's driving book bans worldwide.  

The series begins in America where books about race and racism have become a lightning rod for censorship in public libraries and state schools

Guests: 

Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give (original 2017 interview)

Kasey Meehan, program director for Freedom to Read, PEN America

Tracie D Hall, former executive director of the American Library Association

Maxine Beneba Clarke, Australian memoirist, poet, children's book author. Her poem There's a Shelf in the Library is in her latest poetry collection It's the Sound of the Thing.

Find the other episodes in the series here.