from WNYC studios i'm brian lerer this is my daily politics podcast it's monday march 27th now we have the

author jodi picoe joining us along with suzanne nass, the CEO of Penn America, the Free Speech Organization.

Many of you know Jody Pico, she's written bestsellers like My Sister's Keeper and 19 Minutes and so many other books, more than 20 books.

Normally when novelists join us, they're hosting or they're being part of a discussion here about their latest work.

But Jody's not with us for that purpose today. Instead, she's shedding light on the banning of

her books in Florida, many of them, and to the larger point, why many children throughout the

country, but particularly in Florida, currently do not have

access to a large number of books, even in libraries, including her own at their schools.

According to Penn America, a total of 175 books have been removed from bookshelves just in

Florida schools. Some of the books on the chopping block

include Tony Morrison's The Bluest Eye, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and dozens

of others that touch on race, LGBTQ themes of any kind, or contain protagonists of color.

So with us now, with her personal story and her reflections on why so many

books are being banned from Florida schools and the significance of book banning is the author

Jody Pico and Suzanne Nossel, Penn America CEO. Suzanne, welcome back, Jody, welcome to WNYC.

Thank you. Thanks, Brian.

Jody, what's on the chopping block with respect to your own books?

Where do you even start?

Because I see there are a lot of them.

Yeah.

So in Martin County, Florida, 20 of my books were removed at the request of a single parent.

And it's worth noting that she has admitted she hasn't read the books, nor does she

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