PEN America lists 29% nonfiction bans

PEN America said this month that nonfiction accounted for 29% of the 3,743 unique titles it tracked as banned from U.S. public school libraries and classrooms during the 2024-2025 school year. (pen.org) The organization published a dedicated nonfiction banned-book list on May 19 and tied it to its broader May 7 report, “Facts & Fiction: Stories Stripped Away By Book Bans.” PEN said the findings show schools are removing more books about history, health, biography, memoir and other factual subjects, not only novels. (pen.org) The group tracked 6,780 total instances of bans across 23 states during the period from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025. ### How big was the nonfiction share? PEN America said 29% of the unique titles banned last school year were nonfiction. In the same report, the group said more than 1,100 unique titles were educational or informational books written for students for reference or learning purposes. The May 7 report said that rise marked “something new and distinctive” in the trajectory of school book bans because the affected books were anchored in scientific and historical facts, real events and real people. PEN said nonfiction titles are not usually the main targets of removal campaigns, making the increase notable in its latest dataset. (pen.org) ### What kinds of books were included? PEN America’s nonfiction list includes books for young adult, middle grade, chapter-book and picture-book readers. Examples cited by PEN include Elie Wiesel’s “Night,” Shane Burcaw’s memoir “Laughing at My Nightmare,” “Who Was Harvey Milk?,” “What Was Stonewall?” and “Challenges for LGBTQ Teens.” (pen.org) The organization said the banned titles covered subjects ranging from ancient history and art to race, pronouns, Black Lives Matter and transgender activism. PEN’s published list also includes books such as “J is for Justice! (pen.org) An Activism Alphabet,” “Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race,” and “If You’re a Kid Like Gavin: The True Story of a Young Trans Activist.” ### What explanation did PEN America give? Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, said the trend showed “an embrace of anti-intellectualism” within the book-banning movement. (pen.org) Meehan said censorship was sweeping broadly enough to remove “all kinds of books” and was helping sow fear and distrust in public education. The report said the increase was especially troubling as reading scores and literacy rates decline, arguing that nonfiction serves as “the gateway to literacy” for young readers. (pen.org) PEN also wrote that attacks on nonfiction mirror a broader political attack on facts, knowledge and expertise. ### How does this fit into PEN’s broader tracking? Since 2021, PEN America has documented school book bans nationwide and said bans in public schools have exceeded 23,000 over that period. Its broader 2024-2025 index page lists 6,870 instances of book bans across 23 states and 87 public school districts, while the nonfiction page and May 7 press release cite 6,780 total instances across 23 states for the report’s analyzed set. (pen.org) PEN America discussed censorship as a central issue at its annual Literary Gala in New York on May 14, where more than 600 writers, publishers, journalists and arts figures attended. (pen.org) The organization honored Ann Patchett, Jason Blum, the Rutherford County Library Alliance and imprisoned Iranian writers Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and Ali Asadollahi, according to PEN’s gala release. ### Where can readers see the books themselves? PEN America published the nonfiction banned-book list on its website on May 19, with titles grouped by reader age and category. (pen.org) The full analysis appears in “Facts & Fiction,” published May 7, and PEN’s broader school book-ban index for 2024-2025 remains online with state and district totals. (pen.org 1) (pen.org 2)