Litigation Nation

For our Freedom to Read issue, we rounded up eight court cases playing out across the country that are shaping the right to read—and could decide which books get shelved at public schools and libraries for the foreseeable future. The California Independent Booksellers Alliance’s annual Fall Fest kicked off yesterday in the Bay Area, drawing more than 200 Golden State booksellers. A new paperback reissue series from HarperCollins will mine the publisher’s vast backlist to celebrate the literary gems that have shaped our nation’s canon—and just in time for the 250th anniversary of American independence. Delaware governor Matt Meyer has signed the Freedom to Read Act into law, preventing books in both local and school libraries from being removed for ideological reasons, Delaware Public Media reports. DC’s reissue of the original Batman comic, released earlier this month, has already sold 500,000 copies, per the Hollywood Reporter, and is on track to become the bestselling comic of the year. As Penguin Random House fights a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit filed by President Trump, ABC has pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live from the air over the host’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination in fear of retaliation from the White House, reports Rolling Stone. For the Guardian, Curtis Brown Group CEO and literary agent Jonny Geller weighs in on the necessity of an “artists’ rights charter” to protect human storytelling amid AI’s creeping influence. And on Substack, John Warner talks with Jessica Francis Kane about fictionalizing the life of British novelist Penelope Fitzgerald for her latest book.