AS IF!

Bookslut explains the founding of AS IF! (Authors Supporting Intellectual Freedom).

According to the post,

In May 2005, Cary McNair told the St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Austin, TX that if they did not remove Annie Proulx's short story "Brokeback Mountain" from its 12th grade reading list, he would pull a donation of $3 million to the school's rebuilding fund. St. Andrew's board of trustees opted to leave the story on the reading list and let McNair keep his money. Board member Bill Miller said, "St. Andrew's has a policy not to accept conditional gifts, whether it's $5 or $500,000."

The school's decision caught the attention of author Lisa Yee, who posted the story on a listserv for young adult fiction authors. Two other authors had the same immediate response. Jordan Sonnenblick said, "[Mark Williams] and I posted back at the same time, 'We need to all send books to that school to support them.'"

With that, AS IF! (Authors Supporting Intellectual Freedom) was born. Forty young adult fiction writers agreed to send signed copies of their books to the school to show their appreciation.

A number of authors involved with AS IF! have had their work challenged. Others are involved because they believe banning books is wrong. Below is their Mission Statement:

AS IF! (Authors Supporting Intellectual Freedom) champions those who stand against censorship, especially of books for and about teens.