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The American Booksellers Association has made American Booksellers for Free Expression a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, a move that will make some donations to ABFE tax-deductible and make ABFE eligible to receive grants. It will also allow ABFE "to expand our public-facing resources, offer webinars for broader audiences, grow our social media presence, and participate in more public events," all while continuing its work supporting and informing booksellers about free expression issues, the ABA said.
"Establishing ABFE as a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit is an exciting opportunity for ABA to expand its free expression work to meet this crucial moment--a time when the right to read, free expression, and diversity in literature and bookselling are under attack in the United States," Allison Hill, CEO of ABA and chair of the ABFE board, said. "We look forward to offering education to a broader community of readers and citizens about the importance of diverse books and access to books, the value of reading and authors, and readers' rights."
Founding ABFE board members include Hill; Philomena Polefrone, associate director of ABFE; Ray Daniels, chief communications officer; and Dave Grogan, director of ABFE, advocacy & public policy.
Other board members are:
Maggie Tokuda-Hall, the children's and young adult book author and former independent bookseller. She is a founding member of Authors Against Book Bans and is just concluding her term there as board president.
David Horowitz, a longtime champion of First Amendment rights, who has been executive director of the Media Coalition since 1998.
In part, the change in ABFE status marks a return to its old structure standing technically separate from the ABA. Founded by the ABA in 1990 as the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, in 2015 the group was absorbed into the ABA and dropped the word "foundation" from its name.