First Annual Unified Voices Summit for Educational Freedom

We come together for the First Annual Unified Voices Summit: Protecting Educational Freedom in Florida to celebrate our educators, protect public education, and speak with one voice to defend our rights to free speech and free expression. We will unite to end educational censorship and book bans and support our teachers, public education, and our fundamental constitutional freedoms. The Summit is brought to you by a bipartisan coalition of organizations including PEN America, National Coalition Against Censorship, Florida Freedom to Read Project, Interfaith Alliance, and PRISM. We will meet in Orlando, Florida, 12-13. July 2024.

Please use the links below to view the full schedule (including author signings and KidLit readings), participant list, and calls to action.

FULL SCHEDULE CALL TO ACTION PARTICIPANTS DONATE

Online registration is now closed. If you have any questions, please contact Katie Blankenship ((email protected)) or Sophia Brown ((email protected)).

MISSION

Florida now ranks first in the nation, banning more books from public school classrooms and libraries than any other state. Teachers and media professionals are threatened with loss of careers and freedom, and with the threat of criminal prosecution. Florida’s laws have created the largest crisis of book bans and educational censorship in public schools grades 1-12 ever seen. Books about race and by authors of color, as well as books mentioning sexual orientation and gender, are being ripped off shelves. Students are being deprived of the diversity of ideas and perspectives they need to succeed.

But all is not lost. Florida will not quietly descend into the dark night of censorship. This wave of censorship and denial of free speech is making Floridians stronger and more resilient. Across the state, local groups are organizing, mobilizing resistance, and protecting our constitutional rights and public education. There is a movement in Florida and we need you. We must work together to protect our teachers, our students and our public education system.

Selected participants

The complete list of participants can be found here.

Jodi Picoult, author | Keynote Speaker

Jodi Picoult is the New York Times bestselling author of 28 novels, including Mad Honey, Wish You Were Here, The Book of Two Ways, A Spark of Light, Small Big Things, Take Your Time, The Storyteller, Lone Wolf, Sing You Home, House Rules, Handle with Care, Change of Heart, And By the life of my sisterand, with daughter Samantha van Leer, two young adult novels, Between the lines And Off the page.

Picoult’s books have been translated into 34 languages ​​and 35 countries. Four novels – The Pact. Pure Truth. The Tenth Circle. and Salem Falls – were made into television films. By the life of my sister was a film by New Line Cinema with Nick Cassavetes as director and Cameron Diaz in the leading role. Crazy Honey is currently in development for a series/film. Small big things was optioned for a film adaptation. Picoult also wrote five issues of DC Comics Wonder Woman. Picoult is the co-librettist for the musical adaptation of her two young adult novels, Picoult’s two young adult novels, Between the lines And Of the pageco-written with her daughter Samantha Van Leer, which premiered Off-Broadway in summer 2021 and will be licensed through Music Theatre International in fall 2022. She is also the co-librettist of the musical Breathewhich was included in the Performing Arts COVID-19 Response Collection of the Library of Congress; and the musical adaptation of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which will play at Coventry Belgrade and Leicester Curve in autumn 2023.

Picoult has received numerous awards, including the New England Bookseller Award for Fiction, the Alex Awards from YALSA, a Lifetime Achievement Award for Mainstream Literature from the Romance Writers of America, the NH Literary Award for Outstanding Literary Merit, and the Sarah Josepha Hale Award. She holds honorary doctorates in literature from Dartmouth College and the University of New Haven. She is patron of the Carole Shields Prize for Fiction, given to women novelists.

Picoult lives with her husband in New Hampshire. They have three childrenN.

Stacey Abrams, lawyer, activist and author | Speaker (via recorded video)

Stacey Abrams is a political leader, entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author. A tax attorney by training, Abrams served in the Georgia House of Representatives for 11 years, including seven years as minority leader. She was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia in 2018 and 2022. Over the course of her career, she has founded several organizations dedicated to protecting democracy, voter participation, tackling social issues, and building a more equitable future in the South. She is an advocate for equity and works to break down barriers for young people, people of color, and marginalized communities through her work in the public, nonprofit, and corporate sectors.

She currently holds the Ronald W. Walters Endowed Chair in Race and African American Studies at Howard University and is a senior advisor to Rewiring America. Abrams is also CEO of Sage Works Productions, Inc., a consumer electronics production company.

Abrams serves on nonprofit and corporate boards and is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She holds degrees from Spelman College, the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs, and Yale Law School.

Lauren Groff, Author | Featured Author

Lauren Groff is a three-time finalist for the National Book Award and the New York Times bestselling author of novels The monsters of Templeton, Arcadia, Fates and Furies, MatrixAnd The vast wildernessand the famous short story collections Tender edible birds And Florida. She has won the Story Prize, the ABA Indies’ Choice Award, the Grand Prix de l’Héroïne in France, the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her work appears regularly in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. Her works have been translated into 36 languages. She lives in Gainesville, Florida.

George Emilio Sanchez | speaker

George Emilio Sanchez is a writer, performance artist, and social justice activist. He was born in Los Angeles, grew up in Orange County, California, and moved to New York in 1978. He began producing his own plays in 1992 and continues to work on performances and social justice projects.

George’s work has been presented by theaters and museums in over 25 states and has received support from the National Performance Network, the Fulbright Program (Peru), the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Jerome Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation. George has been an artist-in-residence at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Abrons Arts Center, Dixon Place, Dance Theater Workshop, Pergones Theater, The MacDowell Colony, Tigertail Productions (Miami), Dance Umbrella (Austin), Centro Cultural de la Raza (San Diego), and Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center (San Antonio).

Sponsors and Donors

Special thanks tÖ: David Baldacci, Terry Brackett, Hachette Book Group, Tom Healy, Caren Lobo, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Random House, Jodi Picoult, Alix Ritchie, Anya Salama, Shelly Saltzman, Felice Schulaner, Spencer’s Gifts and Suzy Wahba.

Exhibitor