Stephen King reacts as Florida bans 23 of his books

Critically acclaimed horror author Stephen King has reacted passionately after finding out Florida banned 23 of his books from school libraries.

In 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation in the state banning books in schools that included any kind of sexually explicit material. The decision was driven by complaints from groups like Moms for Liberty. Republicans, including DeSantis, have said the legislation prevents students from obtaining books that are not age-appropriate, but critics view the law as an attempt to stifle discussion about issues including race and the LGBTQ+ community in public schools, raising concerns that this law may censor many topics.

Now after allegedly hundreds of titles were banned from school libraries, six major book publishers have sued the state of Florida. The lawsuit was filed on Thursday by Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers and Sourcebooks and argues that Florida’s law violates First Amendment rights to free speech.

King is no stranger to sharing his social and political opinions on social media and on Saturday, he responded after finding his books have been included in the ban, with his name also being mentioned in the lawsuit.

“Florida has banned 23 pf [sic] my books. What the f***?” the author wrote on X, formerly Twitter. At the time of writing, his post had been viewed 12.5 million times.

Newsweek emailed spokespeople for King and DeSantis for comment on Monday.

As with most of King’s posts, this post has proven to be divisive. Some people have shared their support for King and disapproval of the ban.

“MAGA: ‘Reading is dangerous. It’s like math but with letters,’” one person commented.

“If this is the Collier County Public Schools ban then apparently they’ve banned Updike, Hemingway, Vonnegut, Neil Gaiman, Arthur C. Clarke, and novels likes [sic] Catch-22 and Brave New World. You’re in great company, Mr King,” said another.

“We’re working on taking back Florida and making sure they keep their bans off our bodies AND our books!” wrote Barbie Harden Hall, a Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress.

However, others have supported King’s books being banned, with one person writing: “Babe, elementary school kids don’t need to be reading The Shining. It’s not personal. It’s parenting.”

“Did they develop a sense of taste?” asked another.

Numerous books, including Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, have been pulled from school libraries since the book ban went into effect in July 2023. According to the publishers, popular contemporary novels by writers like Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume and King have also been removed.

The historic lawsuit targets the “sweeping book removal provisions” of House Bill 1069, which required school districts to set up a mechanism for parents to object to anything they deemed inappropriate or pornographic. The lawsuit also names the Authors Guild and several individual writers as plaintiffs.

“Florida HB 1069’s complex and overbroad provisions have created chaos and turmoil across the state, resulting in thousands of historic and modern classics, works we are proud to publish, being unlawfully labeled obscene and removed from shelves,” Dan Novack, vice president and associate general counsel of Penguin Random House, said in a statement.

“Students need access to books that reflect a wide range of human experiences to learn and grow. It’s imperative for the education of our young people that teachers and librarians be allowed to use their professional expertise to match our authors’ books to the right reader at the right time in their life.”

The lawsuit claims that the book removal provisions violate earlier rulings by the Supreme Court regarding the evaluation of works for their literary, artistic, political and scientific value while taking into account any potential obscenity.

However, according to the BBC, Florida officials have said the lawsuit is a “stunt” and have denied that the state has banned books.

“There are no books banned in Florida. Sexually explicit material and instruction are not suitable for schools,” said Florida Department of Education spokesperson Sydney Booker.

Earlier this year, a lawsuit was filed by a local teacher and PEN America that challenges the Escambia County School Board’s removal of approximately 200 books from school libraries, citing violations of free speech and educational rights. However, the school board contends that under a 2023 Florida law, it has the authority to decide which books are appropriate for students.

In a March 2023 statement, DeSantis spoke about the book-banning legislation: “In Florida, pornographic and inappropriate materials that have been snuck into our classrooms and libraries to sexualize our students violate our state education standards. Florida is the education state and that means providing students with a quality education free from sexualization and harmful materials that are not age appropriate.”