Pop singer Pink will give away 2,000 banned books at Miami area concerts this week
By Nicole Chavez, CNN
(CNN) — Pink will give away 2,000 banned books at her South Florida shows this week in partnership with the literary and free expression advocacy group PEN America.
Fans who attend the Miami and Sunrise, Florida, stops of the singer-songwriter’s “Trustfall Tour” Tuesday and Wednesday will receive a copy of some of the books that have appeared on PEN America’s Index of Banned Books.
“I’m a voracious reader, and I’m a mom of two kids who are also voracious readers,” Pink said during a livestream on Instagram on Sunday. “And I can’t imagine my own parents telling me what my kids can and cannot read, let alone someone else’s parents, let alone someone else that doesn’t even have children that are deciding what my children can read.”
Fans will receive copies of “The Family Book” by Todd Parr, “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman, “Beloved” by Toni Morrison, or one of the books from the “Girls Who Code” series by the nonprofit that shares the same name.
The singer said she decided to join PEN America and local bookstore, Books & Books, to give away books because she wanted to highlight the rising wave of book bans in Florida.
“It’s especially hateful to see authorities take aim at books about race and racism and against LGBTQ authors and those of color. We have made so many strides toward equality in this country and no one should want to see this progress reversed,” Pink said in a statement shared by PEN America.
Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, said she was thankful the singer decided to join the cause during the livestream Sunday.
“This is a wave that is taking over our country, our schools, our libraries. [They] are going after books about children of color, stories of LGBTQ families, books about babies, about animals,” Nossel said during the stream. “This is censorship in its purest form. It is meant to suppress narratives that we need here as a pluralistic society and so we have to push back.”
PEN America says its data showed that Florida had the highest number of book ban cases, more than 1,400, and the largest number of school districts, 33, removing books in the last school year.
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