Booksellers: your store’s 2024 membership renewal email will arrive in January. All ABA memberships run from February 1 through January 31. Member stores can opt to pay dues on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis, but all members need to complete the renewal process to update their store’s data. Stores who have recently become members will also need to renew their membership.

The membership renewal will include an option for participation in the ABA Children’s Group ($50). Members can also choose to add a donation to support the crucial advocacy work of American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE), which helps fund lawsuits against book ban legislation and organizes against book censorship.

Membership benefits can be reviewed on BookWeb. 

Questions about dues renewal? Reach out to your ABA Member Relations Manager or [email protected].

• Thursday, December 7 at 2:00 pm ET: Neurodiverse Community Affinity Group
• Monday, December 11 at 2:00 pm ET: LGBTQIA2S+ Affinity Group Meeting
• Wednesday, December 13 at 2:00 pm ET: BIPOC Affinity Group Meeting
• Tuesday, December 19 at 2:00 pm ET: Disability Community Affinity Group
  

January 3, 2024 is the last day to cancel your Winter Institute registration and receive a full refund, minus a $30 cancellation fee. 

Registrations canceled after January 3, 2024, are nonrefundable regardless of circumstances but registrants may transfer their registration to another individual from their store on or before January 31, 2024 for full credit.

All requests for transfers and cancellations must be made in writing to [email protected].

American Booksellers for Free Expression applauds two lawsuits challenging the state of Iowa’s “Don’t Say LGBTQ+” law, SF 496. The law would out transgender students to parents, forbid instruction related to gender identity or sexual orientation, and restrict works that depict a sex act regardless of literary merit. Two groups of plaintiffs have challenged the law. 

In the first suit, the ACLU of Iowa and Lambda Legal have sued on behalf of Iowa Safe Schools and seven families, challenging the law on First and Fourteenth Amendment grounds. In the second suit, Penguin Random House joins the Iowa State Education Association, John Green, Jodi Picoult, Malinda Lo, and other authors in a suit focusing on the law’s First Amendment violations. 

We hope the Southern District Court of Iowa will enjoin this law and defend the rights of students and authors. See our Instagram post.