Publishing Professionals Against Book Bans (PPABB), a new resource-sharing community affiliated with Authors Against Book Bans (AABB) and geared toward industry professionals, will host its first virtual town hall on October 28.
The event, titled "Book Bans and the Art of Protecting Authors," marks PPABB's official launch and will feature The Hate You Give author Angie Thomas, Looking Glass Literary & Media agent Jas Perry, and associate director of American Booksellers for Free Expression Philomena Polefrone in conversation about how publishing professionals can support authors amid mounting censorship efforts.
"There are many ways to censor a story (whether fiction or not) and one is to prohibit the publication of or access to a book," said Emily D.E. Bell, a spokesperson for PPABB. "Another way, old as time, but especially dangerous with current technology, is to intimidate the storyteller. In our forum, we're honored to feature three speakers who will each provide their own insight into the range of risks and what we, as publishing professionals, can do to protect authors, both in working to prevent or respond to attacks."
Bell joins Tricia Lawrence, an agent at Aevitas Creative Management, and Marisa Siegel, a senior acquisitions editor at Northwestern University Press, as the organization's representatives. "Authors can only do so much—and they do a lot—until they need support from their publishing partners, who can say things to each other that authors may not feel safe or comfortable saying," Lawrence said of the group's inception.
PPABB emerged from an AABB town hall at the end of 2024, where authors, who had already been organizing among themselves for almost a year, expressed a desire for support from their behind-the-scenes colleagues. By January 2025, a nascent version of PPABB had emerged, with a handful of agents, editors, and publicists working together to assemble a website, plan a newsletter, and map out how publishing professionals could embrace their unique role in the fight for free expression.
With PPABB, Siegel hopes to empower her colleagues to stand up to internal threats to free expression that authors aren't in a position to speak to—either because they aren't looped in, or because the power differential between creators and publishers keeps them from speaking up.
"We aim to inspire the publishing industry to proactively take steps toward protecting the freedom to tell all stories—and the storytellers who tell them," Siegel said. "It’s crucial that the publishing industry hold ourselves to the highest standard when it comes to resisting censorship, and that we work in concert with each other to do so."
Lawrence added that publishing professionals' insider knowledge helps to throw weight behind authors claims about censorship. "We truly feel that BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities are being unfairly targeted during these bans," she added. "We need to say it and say it loudly, because otherwise it feels as if authors are shouting into the void to the world."
Lawrence's assessment of the epicenters of censorship is validated by PEN America's most recent report on book banning, which found that "persistent attacks conflate LGBTQ+ identities as 'sexually explicit' and erase LGBTQ+ representation from schools."
At the core of PPABB is the belief that publishing professionals have a responsibility to stand in solidarity with the creators with whom they work. "The reward for being allowed to work on these books does not come without risk, and we need to own that," Lawrence said. "We’re in this too."
Bell added that pulling censorship up by the root starts with ensuring that storytellers can speak and write freely. "While we rightfully focus on the impacts of censorship across our communities, including to students, teachers, readers, booksellers, librarians, languages, cultures and more—there is only one thing needed for storytelling, and that's a storyteller," she said. "At its heart, storytelling is truth, it is authenticity, and there is no greater threat to fascism."
Registration for PPABB's upcoming town hall meeting is open to the public here. More information and opportunities to get involved can be found on PPABB's website.
