Founded in 1990 by the American Booksellers Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to protect and promote free speech in the USA.[1] ABFFE advises individuals who oppose book challenges and bans on both a national level and in local communities across the country. ABFFE provides resources and education on the importance of free expression to booksellers, politicians, the press and the public, including a Free Speech Training Guide and Film as well as model statements and talking points for booksellers on controversial issues.
ABFFE participates in legal cases involving First Amendment rights, including most recently joining Media Coalition and its members in filing an amicus brief in the upcoming Supreme Court case US v Stevens. ABFFE also filed a brief in Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations and recently celebrated two free speech victories in the courts after filing briefs in both American Academy of Religion, Association of American University Presses, PEN American Center, Ramadan v Chertoff et al. and Trump v O’Brien. Additionally, ABFFE is active in the five-year campaign to restore reader privacy safeguards that were affected by the USA PATRIOT Act.[2]
Each year ABFFE sponsors Banned Books Week, the only national celebration of the right to read, in conjunction with the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the National Association of College Stores, and the American Library Association.
ABFFE also sponsors the Kids’ Right to Read Project, a collaboration with the National Coalition Against Censorship, that "offers support, education, and advocacy to people facing book challenges or bans and engages local activists in promoting the freedom to read."
ABFFE releases a monthly newsletter called the ABFFE Update that includes the latest free speech news and a special Book of the Month feature.