Remaining big five publishers join PRH in Iowa lawsuit

In the US, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster, along with Sourcebooks, have joined Penguin Random House (PRH) as plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Iowa to block the book ban provisions of the state’s SF 496 law, reports Publishers Weekly.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, PRH, the Iowa State Education Association (ISEA), authors Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, Malinda Lo, and Jodi Picoult, and a group of teachers and students, were the initial plaintiffs in the suit.

The remaining ‘big five’ publishers have joined as plaintiffs to help defend against the state’s bid to lift the block on appeal.

Critics of the law say it ‘seeks to silence LGBTQ+ students and bans books with sexual or LGBTQ+ content’, reports Publishers Weekly.

Category: International news