Join us in welcoming Talia Whyte to the ABA Board of Directors! She has been appointed to the Board in order to fill the seat vacated by Danny Caine. 

Whyte is a worker-owner of Rozzie Bound Co-op in Boston, the only cooperative bookstore in Massachusetts. (It’s also women-owned!) She is in charge of marketing and institutional sales for the store. She supports making diverse books accessible to everyone.

Whyte is also a freelance journalist and marketing consultant with over 20 years of experience. She owns Global Wire Associates, a marketing communications firm. Her journalism can be found in the Houston Chronicle, The Progressive, TheGrio, The Boston Globe, MSNBC, PBS, and Al Jazeera English, among many other outlets. Her website is taliawhyte.com.

• Thursday, February 6 at 2:00 pm ET: Neurodiverse Community Affinity Group
• Monday, February 10 at 12:00 pm ET: Virtual Institute Orientation
• Monday, February 10 at 2:00 pm ET: LGBTQIA2S+ Community Affinity Group
• Tuesday, February 11 at 3:00 pm ET: New Member Series: POS Power Hour
• Wednesday, February 12 at 2:00 pm ET: BIPOC Community Affinity Group
• Thursday, February 13 at 3:00 pm ET: Bookseller Lightning Talks

Attendees, send in your questions for the ABA Community Forum!

The Community Forum is an opportunity for the ABA Board to hear from members about issues their stores are facing and what they need from ABA.

To ensure that the Board hears from as many members, and about as many topics, as possible, members are asked to send questions ahead of time. This will enable the Board to group related questions and know how to prioritize them. Please send your questions to [email protected] now!

Statement on the January 20 Executive Order Targeting Transgender, Intersex, Nonbinary, and Gender-Nonconforming Americans

The American Booksellers Association and American Booksellers for Free Expression have signed and helped author a letter expressing grave concern over the book censorship implications of the Trump Administration’s January 20, 2025, executive order concerning “biological sex” and gender identity. We join over 50 other organizations — including national nonprofits, local and state grassroots organizations, publishers, authors, booksellers, and more — in condemning the order’s call to restrict federal funding because of speech protected by the First Amendment. Read the full statement here.

Have five minutes? Here are several initiatives you can add your voice to right now: 

• In Alabama, email to oppose HB 4, a bill undermining librarians and paving the way for book bans.
• In Colorado, Senators Cutter and Michaelson Jenet need support at a 2/10 hearing for SB 63, a bill to protect schools and school libraries from book bans. One of the bill’s sponsors has provided a form where you can sign up for information on how to support the bill.
• In Connecticut, sign on to support SB 523, a bill to strengthen the right to read that is supported by the state library association.
• In New Hampshire, add your name to this initiative to oppose HB 324, an educator criminalization bill. 
• In Texas, there are three initiatives to sign on different legislation. Add your name to oppose SB 88, which would impact obscenity standards in Texas; to oppose HB 183, which would let the Texas Board of Education ban books statewide; and to oppose a slew of bills that all aim to remove liability protections for librarians, educators, and more. 
• In Utah, ask the Utah Board of Education to overturn bans on two books recently outlawed statewide.