Learning to Fight Book Bans

Alisa Bowman has spent several decades writing health and wellness content for a wide variety of publications, websites, newsletters, and books. Past gigs include serving as a senior editor for Runner’s World, health columnist for the Morning Call, fitness columnist for Yoga Journal, and relationships and pets writer for Prevention. As a freelance ghost writer and co-author, Bowman has penned more than 40 books, including seven New York Times bestsellers.

Dominique Cimina is SVP, Publicity, Corporate Communications and Author Brand Strategy for Random House Children’s Books (RHCB). Over the course of her 20-year career at RHCB, Dominique has developed and executed publicity campaigns, as well as managed relationships for talent including Christopher Paolini, Mary Pope Osborne, Carl Hiaasen, R.J. Palacio, Ken Burns, Jason Segel and Jimmy Kimmel. She also oversees publicity strategy for book brands such as Dr. Seuss publishing. Dominique currently oversees the team that manages PR and event strategy for all authors, illustrators and brands published by RHCB. She leads the division’s internal and external communications efforts, philanthropic initiatives, and the development of RHCB’s author brands. Additionally, she is a member of Penguin Random House’s Intellectual Freedom Taskforce. Dominique has a B.A. from Brown University and an MBA from Columbia University.

Robert Lerose has been a self-employed writer since 1994. Over his 32-year career, he has developed three areas of expertise: copywriting, content marketing, and journalism. He has written more than 300 articles for consumer, trade, association, digital, and alumni magazines. His journalism has won the APEX Grand Award once and the APEX Award for Publication Excellence seven times.

In the last three years, he has begun writing books for ReferencePoint Press, an independent educational publishing house of high-quality nonfiction for grades 6-12. One of his books, The Abortion Controversy, won the 2025 Best Young Adult/Children’s Nonfiction Book Award from ASJA. His new book, AI and Education, was just published.

Philomena Polefrone (she/her) is the Senior Manager, Freedom to Read at PEN America. In her role, she oversees the research portfolio on book bans and educational censorship in K-12 schools and public libraries, raises awareness of book censorship, and contributes to advocacy and mobilization against it nationwide.

Before joining PEN, she was the Associate Director of Advocacy, Public Policy, and American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE) at the American Booksellers Association (ABA), where she led bookseller opposition to censorship, expanded ABFE’s education offerings with dozens of in-person and online events, and created The ABA Right to Read Handbook.

As a lifelong opponent of censorship, she was previously a full-time researcher, educator, and writer, roles that she still inhabits. She also published articles in American Literature, ISLE, Extrapolations, Public Books, and co-authored Alethea, a near-future dystopian audio drama featuring Helen Hunt, Rachel Dratch, and Becca Blackwell.

Polefrone holds a Bachelor’s in English and American Literature, and a PhD in American Literature from Columbia University, where she taught literature, writing, and political philosophy until 2023.

Rosalie (Rosie) Stewart is Senior Manager of Public Policy at Penguin Random House. A skilled grassroots organizer with a passion for youth, LGBTQ+ advocacy, and championing the freedom to read, Rosie has extensive experience working at the federal, state, and local levels on issues including appropriations, intellectual freedom, and voting access. Most recently, she served as Manager of Grassroots Communications for the American Library Association’s Public Policy and Advocacy (ALA PPA) Office, managing the OneClickPolitics program and Congressional Fly-In events. Prior to her time at ALA, Rosie spearheaded the inaugural funding cycle of a capacity-building grant program for Interior Design focused on membership expansion and contract lobbying projects. She also co-founded MOVE (Mobilize, Organize, Vote, Empower) Texas, an organization focused on empowering underrepresented youth communities through civic engagement, issue advocacy, and leadership development. Rosie holds a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and is also a graduate of the University of Texas, San Antonio. She is based in Washington, DC.

A seasoned journalist since 1976, Judah Freed first covered textbook bans as a cub reporter for a metro Denver weekly. Five decades later, he’s worked as a staff or freelance writer and editor for local to international publications, including 20 years pioneering coverage of the emergent internet and interactive TV for the top trades in the USA and Europe. He spoke at industry events on four continents about the social effects of new media. Today he works for a national news service. Judah further is the award-winning author of Making Global Sense: Grounded hope for democracy and the earth, inspired by Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. (Audiobook pending; print book and ebook are available worldwide except China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Turkey, and UAE.)

An advocate of free speech and free minds, Judah serves on the board of directors for the Thomas Paine Historical Association. He’s a member of PEN America, The Authors Guild, Society of Professional Journalists, Alliance of Independent Authors (UK), Authors Against Book Bans, and the American Society of Journalists & Authors, where he’s in the First Amendment committee and represents ASJA on the steering committee of the Banned Books Week Coalition.