Featured image: Christopher M. Jimenez (Web Services Librarian, Florida International University) speaks at Jodi Picoult’s event with Books & Books in Miami, FL. Photo: Ben Hartschuh | GH Prime Media
If you are an author or publisher interested in partnering with Unite Against Book Bans on a national tour, please contact UniteAgainstBookBans@ala.org.
When frequently banned author Jodi Picoult began planning a national tour in support of her new, best-selling book, By Any Other Name (Ballantine, 2024), she knew it was an important opportunity—not just to promote her latest novel, but also to further her efforts in the fight to read freely.
“When I saw that my book tour was taking me many places where my novels have been banned, I knew right away that it gave me a platform to promote the truth to readers in those states — namely, that book bans ARE occurring, in spite of the denials of their local governments and school boards. But what better way to get that point across than to pass the microphone to librarians who are on the front lines of this battle against censorship?”
In the fall, Picoult and her team approached Unite Against Book Bans to generously propose using her book tour to support the campaign’s mission. Working together, Picoult and Unite connected readers in diverse communities to their local librarians, who spoke about the dangers of removing library books due to personal disagreement with their content, and the corresponding rise in harassment and threats to library staff.
Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada, former president of the American Library Association and current assistant director of Glendale (Calif.) Library, Arts and Culture spoke to Picoult fans at an event in Huntington Beach, California. Her message to attendees was simple and enthusiastically received: “Every individual as the right time decide what they and their family read, but they do not have the right to decide what others read!”
Picoult’s tour spanned multiple cities across 17 states and drew more than 16,000 attendees. In each location, audiences were encouraged to join their libraries’ efforts to stand up for the freedom to read, then directed to Unite’s Toolkit for ready-to-use advocacy resources and instructions to take action. Additionally, Picoult’s efforts recruited thousands of new Unite Against Book Bans individual supporters, expanding the campaign’s ability to mobilize advocates for real-time responses as challenges occur at the local level.
Picoult’s tour also strengthened connections between community libraries and independent bookstores—natural allies in the fight against censorship. To hear more about her work standing up for the freedom to read, check out Picoult’s recent interview on “Good Morning America.”
Authors or their publishers interested in collaborating with Unite Against Book Bans on a national tour are encouraged to contact us to learn more.
