Penguin Random House and eight co-plaintiffs have renewed their legal challenge to Iowa’s school book ban. The coalition of the country’s largest publishing houses, the Author’s Guild, two bestselling authors whose works have been pulled from school libraries because of the ban, and an Urbandale High School alum who was still a student when Gov. […]
Penguin Random House
Iowa can now fully enforce its ‘don’t say gay’ and school book ban law, after appeals court vacates injunctions
Iowa can now enforce all parts of SF 496 — commonly known as the “don’t say gay” bill because of its provisions prohibiting references to LGBTQ topics in K-6 schools, requiring written parental permission to use a student’s preferred pronouns or name if it is does not match the gender listed in school records, and […]
Federal judge issues new injunction halting Iowa’s school book ban
The book ban signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2023 has once again been blocked by a federal judge. On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the state from enforcing the law requiring schools to remove all books with “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act,” […]
All of the ‘Big 5’ publishers are now suing Iowa over its school book ban
All of the “Big 5” publishing houses are now suing Iowa to overturn the state’s school book ban signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May 2023. Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, MacMillan Publishing Group and Simon & Schuster have joined Penguin Random House as plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the book ban. […]
Teachers union joins lawsuit with bestselling authors, largest U.S. publisher to challenge Iowa book restrictions
The Iowa State Education Association and Penguin Random House filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday challenging parts of a state law prohibiting books that depict sex acts from being available in Iowa K-12 school libraries. It’s the second lawsuit filed against Senate File 496 this week. On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of […]




