Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read!

September 25th - October 1st is Banned Books Week. This is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. It highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Intellectual freedom- the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular- provides the foundation for Banned Books Week.

Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read and it was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores, and libraries. More than a thousand books have been challenged since 1982. The challenges have occurred in every state and in hundreds of communities. (from the ALA Banned Books Week info page)

For more information about banned books, check out the American Library Association's page About Banned & Challenged Books.