Free Expression

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) is urging booksellers to make plans to mark Banned Books Week, the national celebration of the freedom to read, this year from September 29 - October 6.

Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, author, and renowned free speech advocate Doug Marlette was killed in a single-car accident in Mississippi on Tuesday, July 10. Marlette was a passenger in a car heading to Oxford, Mississippi -- where he had been helping some high school students stage a musical based on his comic strip Kudzu -- when the car apparently hydroplaned on a rain-soaked road before hitting a tree, according to published reports. Marlette was 57.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) has announced the launch of the "ABFFE Book of the Month," a campaign to promote books about free speech via a new feature on its website, www.abffe.com. Each month, one new title will be highlighted, along with a list of other recently published works relating to free expression issues.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression has extended the deadline for ordering its new FREADOM Book Sense gift card to July 9.

"We must go on press with the cards on July 10 in order to send them to booksellers in time for Banned Books Week," said ABFFE President Chris Finan. Banned Books Week is September 29 - October 6.

Booksellers can now support the First Amendment work of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression in two novel ways: through Friday, June 29, by bidding in an eBay auction featuring many book-related items; and through Wednesday, June 27, by ordering FREADOM Book Sense gift cards.

On June 13, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) urged the repeal of a new Madison, Wisconsin, ordinance that requires bookstores that purchase used textbooks to give police the names of the sellers and the titles purchased.

On June 4, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected the Federal Communications Commission's new rule that bans "fleeting expletives" that occur occasionally on broadcast television. The FCC had contended that all expletives implied sexual or excretory acts and therefore could be banned, but the court declared that these words are often used to express frustration and excitement -- meaning a blanket ban on the words violated the First Amendment.