While school library censorship is, so far, less widespread in the United Kingdom than in the United States, censors are gaining ground. In March 2026, news broke that a school in Manchester had ‘purged’ its library’s bookshelves and accused the school librarian of being a ‘safeguarding risk’ because she had included books on the shelves of which the school’s headteacher disapproved.
As is often the case in school library censorship, many of these books were about LGBTQ+ people or characters. This latest case also saw many books about racism and/or by authors of colour included, a facet of censorship that has so far been less common in the UK than in the US. With the school library’s shelves decimated, and the librarian’s career ruined as a result of the action–she had to quit her job due to stress, and the safeguarding accusation means she will be unable to find work in schools in the future–the Manchester case is a chilling new step in a worrying trend.
I spoke to one of the authors whose books were removed during the Manchester school library’s purge. Penny Joelson, an author of YA thrillers and mysteries, was ‘shocked’ when another author messaged her to let her know that her book I Have No Secrets was on the banned list.
“It was hard for me to understand why my book was on the banned list,” Joelson told me. “I Have No Secrets is about a girl with severe cerebral palsy who is the only one who knows the identity of a murderer, and she is unable to communicate. There is so little disability representation in YA fiction, and there seemed no clear reason [for the ban]. It is ‘clean teen’ and fine for Years 7 and up [11-12 year olds].”
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Joelson had no communication from the school, either during or after the removal of her book. This is the first experience with book banning she has had personally, and, unfortunately, she did not receive any help or support from anyone within the publishing industry during this difficult time.
“I agree with books being put in different age categories where something is only suitable for older students,” Joelson continued, “but I think there should be few restrictions as far as fiction is concerned.” She believes that any issues of restriction should be dealt with very sensitively – something that clearly did not happen in the Manchester case. Investigations revealed that the school had used an AI-generated list to determine which books must be removed. A blunt instrument, this list gave weak and often nonsensical reasons why books written for a YA and younger audience were somehow ‘inappropriate.’
“I heard they had used AI to select books to be banned,” said Joelson. “So I asked AI why the book might have been chosen. It came up with ‘could be emotionally upsetting’ or something like that.”
Vague warnings of ‘emotional upset’ are not a legitimate reason for a book to be removed from a school library. Neither is the mention of the existence of LGBTQ+ people, nor the acknowledgment of the fact that racism exists. Bias in AI increases the risk that books by marginalised authors are included in lists like the one generated for the Manchester school censorship case.
While there was widespread backlash against the censorship, the damage was done. A caring children’s librarian was forced out of her job, authors were told that their books were damaging to young people, and the children at the school were let down and deprived of their freedom to read what they choose.
“I believe the school has now reinstated my book,” Joelson said, “but I hope advice will be given to schools to prevent this kind of thing happening again.”
Sadly, in the absence of this advice–or, preferably, legislation to protect students’ access to books and prevent similar purges–there is a high risk of more censorship of school libraries taking place in the future. With right-wing politicians gaining ground and increasing racism and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment across society, our school libraries and the students who use them need to be defended.
For more news on censorship in libraries, read Pride Month in US Libraries: How to Prepare and Help Track Targeted Attacks in 2026 and subscribe to our weekly Literary Activism newsletter.
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