The Utah State Board of Education added seven titles to its statewide banned-book list on Tuesday, Sept. 29, bringing the statewide total to 44 prohibited books. These new bans fall under H.B. 29, Utah's sensitive-materials law, which was signed by Gov. Spencer Cox in March 2024.
The newly banned titles include House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas, Identical and Perfect by Ellen Hopkins, Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews, Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. Sarah J. Maas is now the most-banned author in Utah with seven prohibited titles, followed by Ellen Hopkins with six.
According to Book Riot's tracking of state records, the latest seven bans were triggered primarily by removals in the Davis, Jordan, and Tooele school districts. Davis School District has been involved in 43 of the 44 total bans. Alpine School District has contributed to at least seven of the statewide bans, though its current count could be higher.
H.B. 29, sponsored by Rep. Ken Ivory, R-Salt Lake, and Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Davis/Salt Lake, requires school districts to identify and remove material the state deems pornographic or indecent. Once three districts remove the same book, it becomes banned statewide, requiring every district to dispose of its copies.
Of the 44 books currently prohibited, 33 were written by women, and the average publication date of the titles is 2009. Twenty-five titles have been added since January alone. Utah currently ranks eighth in the nation for total banned books, according to ABC4.
A federal lawsuit, Vonnegut v. Utah, is moving forward after a federal judge ruled in September 2026 that the case can proceed. The judge found that the authors suffered sufficient financial and reputational harm for legal standing.
The suit was brought by two Utah students along with the estates of Kurt Vonnegut and Maya Angelou, as well as authors Elana K. Arnold, Ellen Hopkins, and Amy Reed. Stephanie Floyd-Johnson, manager of Caged Bird Legacy and daughter-in-law of Maya Angelou, stated in an ACLU of Utah press release that restricting access to stories about race, identity, and resilience runs counter to the values Angelou championed.
The state has argued the law only prohibits schools from using the books as instructional materials and does not prevent students from reading or purchasing them elsewhere.
The full list of banned titles is maintained online by the Utah State Board of Education. The board has not announced a date for its next review of the list.
