PRESS RELEASE
With censorship and book banning on the rise, Stifled Laughter inspires readers to fight for free speech
Wheat Ridge, CO — March 14, 2023. In 2022, more than 1,600 books were banned by schools and libraries in 32 states, across 138 school districts. Those book bans affected over 1,200 authors, 290 illustrators, and 18 translators. STIFLED LAUGHTER: ONE WOMAN’S STORY ABOUT FIGHTING CENSORSHIP (Fulcrum Publishing, March 2023), by Claudia Johnson, is part memoir, part courtroom drama, and part primer for advocates fighting assaults on free speech. It is the story of one woman’s efforts to restore literary classics to the classrooms of rural north Florida (the site of many battles over censorship today). Updated with a new introduction, Johnson’s honest, often hilarious, and always inspiring account of censorship in its contemporary form provides valuable insight into why the books students read at school remain a controversial issue, and why free speech in America remains a precarious right.
As Judy Blume says, “As the battle over censorship and book banning rages on, Claudia Johnson helps us understand why it’s more important than ever to keep books on the shelves. Told with passion, humor, and an enduring love of literature, this is a must-read for all book lovers.”
When it was first released, Stifled Laughter was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and received the inaugural PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award for Johnson’s extraordinary efforts to “restore banned literary classics from Florida classrooms.” As Johnson notes in her introduction, “The stakes have never been higher.” For anyone who has ever wondered just how far those who seek to ban books will go in limiting free expression, this book proves that the personal is political and that parents and teachers, writers, and readers all have the means to help in the fight against censorship.
Stifled Laughter: One Woman’s Story About Fighting Censorship is available on: Amazon (paperback) $17.95 (kindle) $17.95 Barnes & Noble Bookshop.org
Contact Claudia Johnson through her publisher | Kateri@fulcrumbooks.com
Note to Media Claudia Johnson is available for interviews or guest writing. To arrange an interview, contact Kateri Kramer, Fulcrum Publishing Marketing Director. Email: Kateri@fulcrumbooks.com Phone: 303-928-8216