“In a new report,  Booklash: Literary Freedom, Online Outrage, and the Language of Harm, PEN America warns that social media blowback and societal outrage are imposing new moral litmus tests on books and authors, chilling literary expression and fueling a dangerous trend of self-censorship that is shrinking writers’ creative freedom and imagination. Offering a forceful defense of the freedom to imagine, write, and publish, PEN America, the premier free expression and writers organization, implores stakeholders across the literary community – including publishers, authors, institutions and readers –  to be zealous guardians of literary freedom and to avoid giving in to pressure to pull books because of content that some consider offensive. The report argues that book withdrawals in the face of criticism–though relatively rare—have ripple effects, shrinking the space for risk-taking in literature and circumscribing what future books will be proposed and signed. The report states. “As a society we need to be able to engage in free debate about books without resorting to denying readers the opportunity to read them and come to their own conclusions.”