Escalating attempts to remove works featuring themes such as LGBTQ lifestyles and race relations from US bookshelves are facing growing resistance from publishers and rights groups, a major topic at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair.

Spearheaded by right-wing conservative groups, there has been an explosion in efforts to get books that are viewed as overly progressive banned in US schools and public libraries in recent years.

In 2020 just under 300 titles faced “challenges” — demands to restrict access to them or remove them entirely — across the United States, according to the American Library Association (ALA).

That number began surging the following year, and reached over 9,000 in 2023, said the NGO, whose office for intellectual freedom has been tracking challenges since 1990.

“It’s

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