Ira Wells On Book Banning

Ira Wells' new book, On Book Banning: Or, How the New Censorship Consensus Trivializes Art and Undermines Democracy, was officially released in the U.S. today, June 3, 2025, by Biblioasis. It’s a succinct, well-written, beautifully aphoristic examination of a rising trend to censor books in North America.Wells is a rising assistant professor of literature at the University of Toronto. On Book Banning is a reaction, specifically, to books being attacked not just by fundamentalists in Florida and but also by out-of-control woke activists in Ontario, and how both extremes are using the same weak excuse to get books out of school libraries: claiming that ‘our innocent children are being harmed!’ The book critiques what Wells identifies as a growing "censorship consensus" among conservatives and progressives, under which both sides conceive of literature as a battleground where ideological agendas are at war, rather than what it should be: a refuge for open inquiry and artistic expression. Wells traces the impulse to censor literature from ancient Rome, through Milton and Mill, to modern-day class-rooms where parents are currently fighting to suppress both LGBTQ+ and racially inclusive content, and material that’s deemed “obscene.” Drawing on personal experience participating in an audit at his children’s school library, Wells reflects on how such practices thwart learning, and push ignorance over dialogue. He contends that the censorship trend is undermining democratic values such as free expression and intellectual growth.We talk about all of this, and Clive James’s Cultural Amnesia to boot. (I left in a couple of minutes at the end where Ira flips the switch/holds the mic, and asks a few questions about what I’ve been up to). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thebibliofile.substack.com/subscribe