Boston-based philanthropists are coming together to help get banned books in the hands of Florida residents, where efforts to ban books has surged.

Tech entrepreneur Paul English, who co-founded Kayak, and Joyce Linehan, former chief of policy for the City of Boston and member of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, have founded BannedBooksUSA.org, an online platform that allows Florida residents to order banned and restricted books for just the price of shipping.

English said he hopes the initiative helps get the books in the hands of readers, but also prompts communities to fight harder against banning books.

“If you look at the authors behind the books that are banned, they're largely BIPOC, Black, gay, Indigenous,” he said. “They're people that have been marginalized with more attempts to marginalize them. And so what the bans are doing is they're not letting these marginalized people tell their story. They're instead trying to tell a very different story about American history and our society”

English and Linehan created the platform, launched Wednesday, in reaction to the book bans taking place in Florida, where more than 40% of book bans nationwide in 2022 have occurred in the state's school districts, according to a PEN America study. Last year, school districts in the state removed approximately 300 books from library shelves after more than 1,200 objections raised by parents, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Any Florida resident who wants a book can go on the website, choose one title to order and pay $3.99 to have it shipped. Florida residents, libraries and educational institutions can order a book — or someone out of state can send a book to someone they know, with the receiver having to approve the shipment. A Florida delivery address is required for the sale to process. 

The cost of the books will be covered by a $100,000 investment by English and any additional funding raised.

You can read more in an article by Haley Lerner published in the wgbh.org web site at: https://www.wgbh.org/culture/2023-10-11/local-activists-band-together-to-fight-banned-books.