Katie Dancey-Downs
@katiedd.bsky.social
Freelance writer & journalist on freedoms, the planet and culture at BBC News, New Internationalist, Resurgence, the Independent, i News, Eurovision & others | Ex-deputy editor @IndexCensorship | She/her www.katiedancey.co.uk
#Afghanistan: A new book tells the story of the Taliban's brutal silencing of women and journalist @zahrajoya.bsky.social's life of resistance. Nearly five years after the Taliban retook power, Joya is telling her story⬇️ www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/07/meet... @katiedd.bsky.social
The anti-fracking nanas are back! What a delight to see my @conversationalist.org story republished in @msmagazine.com
Ms. Magazine@msmagazine.com · 2mo agoIn communities being torn apart by fracking, older people around the world have been taking the fight into their own hands, spending their golden years in protest. From @conversationalist.org:
There's one thing I really remember from Brexit day. Lunch. This time 10 years ago, my grieving colleagues and I dragged ourselves out to the pub for some kind of wake over the shock Brexit result. Ironically, I think we went to a Wetherspoon's. 🧵
“Because once we’ve lost press freedom, it’s only a matter of time before we lose everything it protects.” @katiedd.bsky.social on the growing restrictions of press freedom around the world. This World Press Freedom Day, we're reflecting on what needs happen to uphold journalistic independence.
The Shrinking Space for Media Freedom
Once we lose a free press, we lose everything it protects.
conversationalist.org
“We believe foreign interference is the reason RightsCon 2026 won’t proceed in Zambia or online.” @rightscon.org @accessnow.org Yep, that’s… that’s pretty bad.
Having been to @rightscon.org in the past (it was brilliant), I’m so devastated for those who thought they’d be uniting in Zambia next week. The reasons for the cancellation are very concerning, and @accessnow.org have acted admirably in being so transparent.
Access Now@accessnow.org · 3mo agoThe Chinese Government Just Got the World’s Largest Digital Rights Conference Canceled www.wired.com/story/the-ch...
New podcast alert! 🚨 Journalist @katiedd.bsky.social reads "Meet the Anti-Fracking Nanas", her longform reported piece on why older women around the world are dedicating their golden years to leaving a better world behind. Listen here ➡️ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...
How will you spend your retirement? Gardening? Travelling? Fighting the fracking industry? My @conversationalist.org story Meet the Anti-Fracking Nanas has been revived in podcast form, so please do tune in to meet Tina, Dominique and Casey. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
"Meet the Anti-Fracking Nanas"…–The Conversationalist Podcast – Apple Podcasts
Podcast Episode · The Conversationalist Podcast · 14 April · 53min
podcasts.apple.com
Apparently it’s International Haiku Day. I shall ignore it.
I wrote Queerly Autistic as the book I desperately wish I'd had as a young queer autistic person. I know what it was like trying to figure myself out without access to this sort of information, and how vulnerable that made me. Knowledge is empowerment - and safety. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Queer author from Essex devastated after school removes book
The author says her book was an aid to open up the conversation around gender, sexuality and identity.
bbc.co.uk
In #Hungary, children’s books with LGBTQ+ themes are sealed in plastic. It’s not just writers being targeted, artists are censored too. Index's @katiedd.bsky.social writes in our latest magazine issue. Read it now⬇️ shop.exacteditions.com/index-on-cen...
The Librarians are not the enemy. Great piece on this nightmarish conduct @katiedd.bsky.social. I stocked these books in my school library, issuing them with care/ age restrictions too. The librarian was threatened with disciplinary action, labeled a safeguarding risk & resigned. Follow up below.
Nik Sunil Williams@nikwilliams.bsky.social · 5mo agoMy excellent colleague @katiedd.bsky.social has just published this remarkable investigation into rampant book banning in a Greater Manchester secondary school library. 193 books including The Da Vinci Code, Twilight, White Teeth and 1984 Graphic Novel www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/scho...
“Historic paintings and sculptures of nudes” are apparently just too much for young people to handle in their art books. Just the latest in the story of what’s happening in some UK school libraries. Brilliant work from the NEU on the fight against book censorship. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Teachers vow to 'fight censorship' after school book row
The UK's largest education union says librarians have reported
bbc.co.uk
I literally don’t know what is and what isn’t an April Fool’s Day joke anymore. I give up until tomorrow.
The Independent@the-independent.com · 4mo agoTrump official claims Truth Social blocking his posts about teleporting to Waffle House
I've been following this story via @indexoncensorship.org and it's good to see @thebookseller.com covering it now. www.thebookseller.com/news/schools... #UKKidLit
School's 'removal of more than 100 books' reflects 'pressure on librarians' to censor stock
The alleged removal of more than 130 titles from a secondary school library in Greater Manchester has raised concern across the trade.
thebookseller.com
The alleged removal of more than 130 titles from a secondary school library in Greater Manchester has raised concern across the trade 👇 #BookSky
School's 'removal of more than 100 books' reflects 'pressure on librarians' to censor stock
ebx.sh
Brilliant piece from Black Current News on the school library purge in Salford, which we investigated @indexoncensorship.org They talk to Nova Reid, whose book was on the list. www.blackcurrentnews.co.uk/p/nova-reid-...
Black writers’ books pulled from UK school library amid censorship row as author speaks out
Exclusive: Nova Reid warns of “fear, ignorance and fascism” after books removed from Manchester school library
blackcurrentnews.co.uk
In case you missed it, we published an update on the Manchester school library story @indexoncensorship.org Including plenty of completely outrageous details. www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/grea...
Greater Manchester school library censorship: who is accountable? - Index on Censorship
Now that Lowry Academy has been publicly named, Index has written a follow-up to last week's book banning story
indexoncensorship.org
The book banning school in Manchester has now been named, the Lowry Academy. Some of the books have been returned to the shelves but not all. Glad to hear CILIP are supporting the librarian ://www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/greater-manchester-school-library-censorship-who-is-accountable/
Greater Manchester school library censorship: who is accountable? - Index on Censorship
Now that Lowry Academy has been publicly named, Index has written a follow-up to last week's book banning story
indexoncensorship.org
#UK 🇬🇧 A Greater Manchester school’s library was purged of books with alleged “inappropriate content.” @katiedd.bsky.social explores the story and the wider impact of the removal of books from the library. @indexoncensorship.org
School book banning escalates in the UK as Greater Manchester secondary school censors scores of books - Index on Censorship
A school librarian faced a disciplinary hearing and scores of books were removed from her school library after she stocked Laura Bates’ Men Who Hate Women
buff.ly
Not the main point of our investigation, obviously, but a mere hint of how ridiculous this story is. Please do read the update. Traitors and all. www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/grea...
Greater Manchester school library censorship: who is accountable? - Index on Censorship
Now that Lowry Academy has been publicly named, Index has written a follow-up to last week's book banning story
indexoncensorship.org
Katie Dancey-Downs@katiedd.bsky.social · 4mo ago“It has come to our attention that among our staff we have some traitors.” On the day we published our investigation into book censorship and a librarian losing her career, the school posted a video promoting their Traitors-style game where staff would be “banished”. It was filmed in the library.
“It has come to our attention that among our staff we have some traitors.” On the day we published our investigation into book censorship and a librarian losing her career, the school posted a video promoting their Traitors-style game where staff would be “banished”. It was filmed in the library.
Index on Censorship@indexoncensorship.org · 4mo agoLast week, we published a shocking story about nearly 200 books being removed from a school library in Greater Manchester. Now, the school in question has been named. The question remains: who is accountable? Read our follow-up ⬇️ www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/grea...
"It is an unprecedented attack on the freedom to read and intellectual freedom" - thanks to @dailymail.co.uk for featuring our investigation into book banning at a school in Greater Manchester ⬇️ www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
School accused of using AI to purge library of books including 1984
An investigation by Index on Censorship found a secondary school in Greater Manchester earmarked almost 200 books for removal from its library that were deemed 'inappropriate'.
dailymail.co.uk
I want to thank ‘Emily’, the librarian at the heart of this story, for your work trying to make sure that your students have access to my book and others. I stand in solidarity with you against the harassment and abuse you have faced from the school.
#USA: A librarian from Tennessee is refusing to remove over 100 books from shelves at Rutherford County library, saying the action violates the First Amendment. Many of the flagged books deal with LGBTQ+, race and feminist themes: eu.tennessean.com/story/news/2...
The children books one Tennessee librarian refuses to move
A recent decision in Rutherford County to move 132 books out of a juvenile section mirrors trends seen across the state.
eu.tennessean.com
Glad that the whole internet is angry about the Manchester book banning story that @indexoncensorship.org broke. They targeted books from Michelle Obama, Margaret Atwood and Celeste Ng on the 200-strong list. Outrage is 100% the correct response. www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/scho...
School book banning escalates in the UK as Greater Manchester secondary school censors scores of books - Index on Censorship
A school librarian faced a disciplinary hearing and scores of books were removed from her school library after she stocked Laura Bates’ Men Who Hate Women
indexoncensorship.org
I recently found out, thanks to this investigation by @indexoncensorship.org, that my book, Queerly Autistic, was caught up in a mass book ban in a Greater Manchester school. I’m furious that the librarian, who is autistic, was harassed by the school for providing my book to autistic young people.
Nik Sunil Williams@nikwilliams.bsky.social · 5mo agoMy excellent colleague @katiedd.bsky.social has just published this remarkable investigation into rampant book banning in a Greater Manchester secondary school library. 193 books including The Da Vinci Code, Twilight, White Teeth and 1984 Graphic Novel www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/scho...
To create this mega-list of “alleged books with inappropriate content”, the school admitted (in documents we saw) that the categorisations of the books were written using AI. Michelle Obama’s Becoming was on the list for “racism and political themes”. www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/scho...
School book banning escalates in the UK as Greater Manchester secondary school censors scores of books - Index on Censorship
A school librarian faced a disciplinary hearing and scores of books were removed from her school library after she stocked Laura Bates’ Men Who Hate Women
indexoncensorship.org
Index on Censorship@indexoncensorship.org · 5mo agoA shocking new investigation by Index reveals that Emily (not her real name), a school librarian in Greater Manchester, faced disciplinary action after stocking the book Men Who Hate Women. Nearly 200 books were targeted. 1/4 By @katiedd.bsky.social
Oh look, Little Fires Everywhere has apparently been banned in a Manchester school...
Nik Sunil Williams@nikwilliams.bsky.social · 5mo agoMy excellent colleague @katiedd.bsky.social has just published this remarkable investigation into rampant book banning in a Greater Manchester secondary school library. 193 books including The Da Vinci Code, Twilight, White Teeth and 1984 Graphic Novel www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/scho...
