A bunch of bookworms hosted the 43rd Annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes on Friday at the University of Southern California. The awards recognize exceptional literary excellence and celebrate the highest quality of writing from authors at all stages of their careers and across all genres.
The Book Prizes ceremony was a prequel to the weekend’s LA Times Festival of Books, the nation’s largest literary festival, which brought together hundreds of writers and storytellers, and thousands of fellow bibliophiles.
The American Library Association (ALA) has released its annual list of the most challenged books in libraries in the US, revealing that demands to censor books rose by 38% year-over-year in 2022, the highest level ever recorded.
There have been a number of recent political moves in the US to restrict the books available in public and school libraries.
Lessa Kananiʻopua Pelayo-Lozada, President of the ALA, says it used to be that titles were challenged when a parent or other community member saw a book in the library they didn't like, but times have changed. “Now we're seeing organized attempts by groups to censor multiple titles throughout the country without actually having read many of these books,” she says.
Thank goodness vampires haven’t been banned (…yet). In fact, you can even get them delivered straight to your inbox!
Get ready to sink your teeth into the Dracula Daily, a free newsletter that will be sent out between May 3rd and November 7th following along the same timeline as the letters, diary entries, telegrams, and articles that make up the missive-driven novel. It’s a great way to digest the whole story in bite-sized pieces.