Left-wing horror novel author Stephen King has reportedly become the “most banned” author in America’s school libraries as administrators feel many of his books are filled with too much sexual material and adult themes.
The determination comes from PEN America’s most “Banned in the USA ” list, released Wednesday, the New York Post reported.
The group found that 80 percent of the bans were instituted by three states — Florida, Texas, and Tennessee. Still, the total number is down from the high-water mark in the 2023-24 school year. Several deep blue states exhibited very few calls for bans, including Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey. Those states, though, have laws limiting schools making such decisions.
Reasons for exclusions from school libraries included LGBTQ+ themes, sexual violence, racial themes, and violence in general.
“It is increasingly a story of two countries,” director of PEN’s Freedom to Read program, Kasey Meehan, said. “And it’s not just a story of red states and blue states. In Florida, not all of the school districts responded to the calls for banning books. You can find differences from county to county.”
King’s books were reportedly censored 206 times, the most of any other author. His books excluded from school libraries include “Carrie” and “The Stand.” Other books that were commonly banned include “A Clockwork Orange,” Patricia McCormick’s “Sold,” Judy Blume’s “Forever,” and Jennifer Niven’s “Breathless.”
The rabidly anti-Trump author commented on the announcement and urged fans to pick up some of his novels that had appeared on the banned list.
Meehan spoke specifically about King’s books.
“His books are often removed from shelves when ‘adult’ titles or books with ‘sex content’ are targeted for removal — these prohibitions overwhelmingly ban LGBTQ+ content and books on race, racism, and people of color — but also affect titles like Stephen King’s books,” Meehan explained. “Some districts — in being overly cautious or fearful of punishment — will sweep so wide they end up removing Stephen King from access, too.”
Still, critics accuse PEN of bloating its banned list. A similar list by the American Library Association shows fewer numbers than PEN’s list because it only marks permanent bans where PEN also lists books that were only on temporary or momentary exclusions from libraries.
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