Iran intensifies book banning

Book censorship in Iran, a fact of life for the last 25 years, has drastically worsened under its current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, according to a Jan. 6 NPR report. The government is not raiding bookstores, but new books and older books seeking reprints must be approved by the Ministry of Culture. Thousands of books languish in a kind of censorship limbo, with officials neither saying whether they approve or disapprove. Thanks to David Durant of Heretical Librarian, who has written several entries on this topic.