Meet the Librarian Battling Book Bans

Sep 5, 2024

Conservative groups around the country have been in banning books that they do not like within libraries and schools. Often those pushing book bans claim they are protecting children from dangerous reading materials.

Now, Amanda Jones, a Louisiana-based middle-school librarian who became the target of vicious death threats and harassment by a right-wing book-banning campaign, has decided to fight back. Not only has she her opponents, she has also written a tell-all book about her battle against the book banners called That Librarian.

Jones has been an educator for 22 years and is the president of the Louisiana Association of School Librarians, co-founder of the to defeat censorship attempts in her community, and a founding member of the, which fights against censorship efforts across the state. She spoke with 大象传媒 Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on 大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about her new book.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.