A Note From Our Founder
In honor of Banned Books Week in the United States, we caught up with Kim A. Snyder, the Emmy-winning director and producer of The Librarians, a documentary about the people fighting for the right to read. For me, reading has always been about empathy: stepping into shoes I'll never wear to see perspectives beyond my own. I can't imagine a world where someone else chooses our stories. Take care, Paul
Librarians Without Borders
A documentary film chronicles the fight for the right to read
As a reader, just try watching the trailer for The Librarians without getting verklempt. It’s emotional to see librarians under siege, in the United States of all places, as banned books spark a fight over free speech and who decides what children read. Director and Producer Kim A. Snyder spoke with us ahead of the film’s streaming release and U.S. midterm elections. Like her earlier films on gun violence, The Librarians tells a story about young people and the adults who stand up for them.
First off, congrats on the Emmy! Were you surprised by it?
Thank you. Yes, it was a wonderful moment. We were there with eight of our librarians from the film, and they all came holding their favorite banned books.
And something wonderful actually came of it. The film begins in Texas, and recently there was an even more severe crackdown on books, which we didn't think was possible — The Krause List was 850 books [in 2021]; the lieutenant governor in Texas had now named 2,200 books. There was a chilling effect. Even if those books weren't removed yet, he said, "We're coming after those books." Many districts ordered their librarians to preemptively go and take all those books off the shelf.
Several of the books that our librarians were holding at the Emmys had been on that list, including Elie Wiesel's Night and the graphic novel of Anne Frank. Because that image got press, the lieutenant governor was pressed after the press interviewed one of our librarians. The press got to him, and under pressure because of that image, he rescinded. He then turned around and said, "Okay, well, those books should not be off the shelf," the two Holocaust-related books, and then went on to say actually communities should decide for themselves, not the state. So we feel really proud of that.
Julie Miller with ALA Library Bill of Rights
Courtesy of 8 Above & The Librarians documentary, image by DP David Allen
What was it about the topic that compelled you to act?
Some of it is instinct. I just thought, wow, they're going after librarians, unlikely defenders on the front lines of our democracy. How did this happen? I really thought it needed to be about the librarians themselves, who since the beginning of time across the globe have been the curators of our knowledge…selfless servants who help communities and children navigate information.
How did you find the librarians to feature in the film?
It started when we first heard about this group in Texas, formed in reaction to the Krause List, calling themselves the FReadom Fighters. We immediately went to talk to them, around the time of the Texas Librarian Association annual meeting. They were reconnecting after a very aberrant time with the pandemic, but they also were in trauma because at the same time — and I think it's connected — during COVID the whole movement of what was being called parental rights, by folks like Moms for Liberty, was growing...
Meet a Book
Parents and teachers have challenged this 1964 children’s novel for decades, most notably at a 1983 school board meeting in Xenia, Ohio. The story follows an 11-year-old New Yorker who loves tomato sandwiches and writes blunt notes on everyone she knows. When her classmates find the notebook, they turn on her, and she hits back. Early critics feared it taught kids to be rude and sneaky. Schools in Florida removed it as recently as the 2025-26 academic year.
Meet a Reader
A journalist in Atlanta, Amber was a nonfiction and memoir fan until summer 2025, when a banned book club and a neighborhood romance book club expanded her reading universe. Now she’s on track for more than 200 books this year and is approaching a 300-day streak. "I cover the news of the day, often sad, so reading has been my release," she says. She logs everything in Margins and loves to share recaps on social media. Follow Amber for some major motivation!
Also, welcome and thank you to new members: Jill, Haya, Joanna, Lex, Ronja, Sasha, Cocktails and Books, Pauline, Yanna, Nunu, and more. Margins is free to use, but a paid membership unlocks extra perks and helps to support our small team.
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