Penguin Random House and Partners File Amended Complaint Challenging Iowa Book Ban Case
On July 27, Penguin Random House, alongside Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Sourcebooks, and the Authors Guild, filed an amended complaint in statewide book banning law Penguin Random House v. Robbins. In response to the Eight Circuit’s decision not to rehear the case earlier this year, the updated complaint asks the court to protect nine books that the coalition argues should never have been removed from Iowa school libraries. The books include:
- 1984 by George Orwell
- ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
- BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
- I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS by Maya Angelou
- NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
- NINETEEN MINUTES by Jodi Picoult
- THE RAPE OF NANKING by Iris Chang
- SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson
- TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
As Dan Novack, VP, Associate General Counsel, said on behalf of the plaintiff coalition: “The Eighth Circuit made clear that Iowa’s law applies far more narrowly than the State had previously argued. Our amended complaint asks the court to enforce those limits for books that should never have been removed from school shelves and establish precedent that protects works of extraordinary literary and historical value. These nine books demonstrate how SF 496—and its overzealous enforcement—has resulted in the erasure of history, depriving Iowan students of essential information, stories, and ideas. Our goal is simple: to ensure all students have access to the books they need to learn, grow, and understand the world around them.”
To learn more about the amended complaint and the books at the center of the case, read Publishers Weekly‘s article here.
To learn more about what Penguin Random House is doing and what you can do to protect the freedom to read, visit the Penguin Random House Banned Books Resource Hub.