With book banning efforts sharply on the rise a few years ago, it became clear to many, including Penguin Random House CEO Nihar Malaviya, that the challenges weren’t one-offs but rather part of an organized, well-funded operation. To counter that campaign, Malaviya decided to throw the full weight of the country’s largest trade publisher into marshaling the opposition.
PRH had already been engaged in some individual attempts to fight book banning, so Malaviya backed a proposal to bring together people from departments that had been most affected by the bans—such as children’s, marketing, publicity, legal, and library services—to form the Intellectual Freedom to Read Taskforce in May 2023. That taskforce, chaired by SVP Skip Dye, now has about 20 PRH employees who dedicate part of their time to fighting book banning and other acts of censorship. The unit includes Rosie Stewart, who in fall 2024 was appointed PRH’s first public policy manager and whose task is to focus on broadening the publisher’s participation in state and federal legislative efforts, building coalitions, and grassroots organizing.
Malaviya tells PW that PRH has long worked with other organizations on freedom of expression issues, so with the help of Stewart, the publisher also worked to garner support from such groups as PEN America, the Association of American Publishers, the American Library Association, and the National Coalition Against Censorship. “We know this is a long-term battle,” Malaviya says. “We know this won’t be resolved right now, and we are in it for the long term.”
He sees the current fight as part of a publisher’s ongoing responsibility to ensure that “everyone has access to the books they need.” Malaviya is particularly concerned with how bans affect children. “A publisher’s most important job is to create the next generation of readers,” he says.
That doesn’t mean Malaviya believes every book is appropriate for every reader, but he does believe decisions about what kids can read should be made by parents and local experts such as librarians rather than outside groups. Malaviya’s commitment to making books accessible is a personal one, Dye notes, explaining that when Malaviya moved to the U.S. from India as a child, libraries and books played a major role in shaping his worldview.
At first, PRH focused its efforts on supporting authors, teachers, and librarians, and raising public awareness about book bans. Two years ago, it began to ramp up legal action. One of PRH’s objectives, Malaviya says, is to challenge laws it believes are unconstitutional. It’s also advocating for laws that protect the freedom to read. “We want to create precedents that protect the right to read,” which may deter legislatures from passing book banning laws, he explains.
PRH has indeed been active on the legal front, beginning in 2023 when it joined the lawsuit against the Escambia County, Fla., school district aimed at quashing a policy that would have allowed the school board to remove any book it deemed objectionable from library shelves. PRH filed subsequent lawsuits in Florida, Idaho, and Iowa, in addition to filing amicus briefs in seven other cases.
Malaviya acknowledges that it takes time for cases to move through the courts and that there will be setbacks along the way, but he’s sanguine about the legal process. “I think we have momentum,” he says. “We have an organized effort from an industry perspective, involving publishers and industry associations.”
PRH’s legislative efforts, meanwhile, are already starting to bear fruit. In 2025 alone, 25 states introduced freedom-to-read legislation, with PRH directly involved in 12 of those efforts, scoring passage in seven states. PRH and its partners also helped defeat eight bills that would have restricted access to books in schools and libraries.
Dye credits Malaviya for being aware that the fight against censorship is much bigger than PRH. He sees PRH as being “the glue” that holds its partners together in fighting for freedom of expression. Dye says he and other employees involved in the taskforce appreciate how much support the CEO has given them in their work. “The faith and determination he has shown in us doing this harkens to his leadership,” Dye says. “I feel very proud to be a part of this company, and very supported in what we are doing.”
“Under Nihar’s stewardship, the Penguin Random House team has led by example on the First Amendment, a constitutional protection that depends entirely on those who are willing to fight for it,” says AAP CEO Maria Pallante. “From litigation to legislation to community engagement, they have been a joy to watch and work with in defense of speech, not only for the books that are the heart of publishing but for the authors, bookstores, libraries, and readers who rely on leaders to keep speech safe.”
As the fight against book bans continues, the Trump administration has created other challenges. The president has sued PRH over its publication of Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig’s Lucky Loser. PRH has called the case meritless. Malaviya doesn’t see any of PRH’s actions through a political lens but considers it his duty to ensure that all editors have the freedom to decide what they want to publish, within appropriate legal bounds, rather than having those decision made by the government. “At the end of the day, we stand with the First Amendment,” he notes.
All of these actions cost money, and Malaviya says PRH will have invested “seven figures” (not counting the time committed by PRH employees) this year in its freedom-to-read campaigns. He is making these investments with the full support of parent company Bertelsmann, which Malaviya says is also in the freedom-to-read fight for the long haul. He explains that PRH’s priorities in 2026 will be driven to some degree by what is happening in state legislatures, adding that PRH’s actions will depend “on what the other side is doing.”
Continuing to create awareness about banning efforts will certainly remain a priority, and to date PRH has held a range of awareness events capped by the October 6 Save our Stories dinner held—very intentionally—in Washington, D.C. That event brought together about 100 PRH employees, authors, journalists, legislators, and other industry representatives involved with freedom-to-read initiatives. “The power of the evening was that it brought the whole coalition together and it let our authors tell their stories,” Dye says. “Everyone walked out of there much stronger.”
Malaviya is aware that the challenges to the freedom to read “wax and wane” and will never fully go away. He says the efforts of PRH and others have helped to roll back some of the opposition’s early momentum. “There is a lot more work to be done, but I think we are making meaningful progress.”
