Alexa's Book Marketing & Publishing Chat
They Just Banned Jane Eyre: Why Every Author Should Care
October 8, 2026
Jane Eyre just landed on PEN America's banned list for the first time. For Banned Books Week 2026, Alexa Bigwarfe unpacks the record 11,982 school bans, who is actually filing challenges, what's happening in South Carolina, and why authors, especially indie, YA, romantasy, and nonfiction writers, should be paying attention right now.
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This one is a solo episode, and it's the most political one Alexa has ever recorded on purpose. Banned Books Week 2026 landed the same week PEN America reported 11,982 school book bans in a single school year, the most since it started counting, and for the first time that list included Jane Eyre. Alexa walks through the difference between a challenge and a ban, why PEN America and the American Library Association report different numbers, and the statistic she most wants you to remember: 92% of 2025 library challenges came from pressure groups and officials, and fewer than 3% from individual parents. She takes a hard look at her home state of South Carolina, lays out why bans hit authors' income and backlists, and closes with a practical list of things any author can do this week.

Key Takeaways from This Episode


Book bans hit a record this school year. PEN America counted 11,982 bans in public schools in 2025 to 2026, covering 7,370 unique titles and more than 4,000 authors, illustrators, and translators. More than 4,500 of those titles had never been banned before.

Fewer than 3% of challenges come from individual parents. ALA's 2025 data shows 92% of library challenges came from pressure groups, government officials, and decision makers, up from 72% the year before. The fight is mostly organized, not a parent at the circulation desk.

Challenges aren't rising, but bans are winning more often. ALA recorded 4,235 unique titles challenged in 2025, close to its record, and 66% of what was challenged was banned. State laws do much of the work now: PEN traced bans in 72% of the districts it tracked to legislation.

If you write YA, fiction, or romantasy, this is your business. YA titles made up more than half of PEN's bans and fiction more than 80%. Alexa flags romantasy as a growing target and notes nonfiction bans, including memoir and history, are rising too.

The classics are on the list, and most of the authors are women. Jane Eyre, The Bluest Eye, The Handmaid's Tale, Beloved, and The Color Purple all appear. Alexa points out that most of the classic authors being pulled are women, and many are Black women.

Bans reach your income, not just your shelf. School and library sales, school visits, and classroom adoptions are real revenue. Once one title is banned, the author's whole backlist tends to get targeted, and indie authors don't have a publisher's legal team behind them.

Small actions count. Request a banned title at your library, since circulation numbers help librarians defend their shelves. Learn when your school and library boards meet, join groups like the Authors Guild, and if your own book is challenged, document everything and contact PEN America and the Authors Guild right away.

Alexa Bigwarfe is the founder and CEO of Write|Publish|Sell and the founder of Women in Publishing, the largest women's organization for authors and publishing professionals. She hosts Alexa's Publishing Chat (formerly the PublishHer Podcast) and has spent roughly 13 years in publishing, helping indie authors write, publish, and market their books. A military veteran with a background in political science, international studies, and federal and state government work, she brings a policy-watcher's eye to the issues shaping the book world. Find her at womeninpublishingsummit.com.





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