The estate of Kurt Vonnegut is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that the ACLU of Utah is bringing against the state, challenging its controversial book bans.
In a news release, the civil rights organization announced that it is suing the state on behalf of Vonnegut’s estate; authors Elana K. Arnold, Ellen Hopkins, and Amy Reed; and two unnamed high school students in Utah.
Utah has been zealous in banning books, with a list of 22 titles removed from all schools statewide. While no books by Vonnegut or Reed are on that list, Arnold’s Damsel and What Girls Are Made Of, and Hopkins’ Tilt, Fallout, and Tricks are. Vonnegut’s 1969 classic, Slaughterhouse-Five, has been banned by some schools in the state.
The ACLU of Utah filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, claiming that Utah’s Sensitive Materials Law “requires public schools and their libraries to remove a remarkable range of literature under unconstitutional, overbroad criteria imposed by the state legislature.”
Nanette Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut’s daughter, said in a statement, “He regarded libraries and librarians as our most vital public institutions because ‘words are the most powerful tools we have.’ Now, more than half a century later, Utah’s lawmakers’ determination to ban books like Slaughterhouse-Five denies innumerable young people in Utah the freedom to read, think, and grow; it is antithetical to what my father fought for during World War II and focused much of his literary legacy on addressing.”
Vonnegut, whose other novels include Cat’s Cradle and Breakfast of Champions, died in 2007.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
