Every year, bookstores, libraries, universities, and organizations host engaging programs that spotlight censorship.
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For the past century, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has faced book bans and challenges. In modern times, the revisionist novel Wicked and its hugely popular musical adaptation have faced similar censorship around the country. Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and Winnie Holzman, bookwriter ... Read More
National Book Award Winners Nikky Finney (Head Off & Split, 2011 Poetry Winner) and Robin Coste Lewis (Voyage of the Sable Venus, 2015 Poetry Winner) excavate and reimagine family and historical archives as poetry in their recent books Love Child’s Hotbed of Occasional Poetry and To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness. The authors join National Book Award Winner Jacqueline Woodson (Brown Girl Dreaming, 2014 ... Read More
Kick off Banned Books Week with a Community Read-In! Library staff and community guests will host a public storytime and read aloud from children's books that have been banned or challenged in the last decade. Adults, teens, and older kids are welcome to just bring a blanket or lawn chair and read together on the ... Read More
With book banning at an all-time high, it's important for people of faith and those who care about the future of all American children to resist these efforts. Celebrate and lift up the books and stories that reflect and change people’s lives! Come to the 2-day banned books festival organized by Unitarian Universalist faith communities ... Read More
The 10th Anniversary of The Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival The 10th Anniversary of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival (CCBF) will take place on Saturday, September 30, from 10 am to 4 pm at the Chappaqua Train Station in Chappaqua, New York. This year’s Festival will be the largest one yet, with 180 authors in attendance ... Read More
Kicking off Banned Books Awareness Week, The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) is hosting a can’t miss panel discussion, The Burning of Democracy | A Banned Books Discussion As more and more works of literature are being banned nationwide, panelists from a wide array of diverse communities and backgrounds will gather to discuss the effects ... Read More
In facing the rising threats to the freedoms to read and imagine, PEN America convenes a dialogue with beloved writers on the recent and dramatic rise in the efforts to censor and silence Black and LGBTQ+ perspectives. New York Times bestselling author Casey McQuiston and independent publisher and children’s author Cheryl Willis Hudson will be in ... Read More
This Fall, PEN America is proud to be a part of the 2023 Brooklyn Book Festival, which is taking place on October 1st from 10am – 6pm ET at Brooklyn Borough Hall Plaza and Columbus Park. The Brooklyn Book Festival is the city’s largest literary festival, convening authors as nearby as Bed-Stuy to across the globe, and ... Read More
Join us for an event honoring Banned Books Week 2023! This year, we are celebrating books, reading, and freedom of speech with the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and volunteers from their Student Advocates for Speech program. Explore a full day's worth of activities across the Museum for families to celebrate books and learn a little more about ... Read More
Book bans in America are more widespread than ever. They must be stopped. The Banned Wagon: A Vehicle for Change is road-tripping through the South on a mission to get books to the people who need and want them most. Our first stop: Georgia! Stop by Charis Books & More to get a free banned ... Read More
The capstone of Shout Mouse Press's Booktoberfest event will be a thoughtful panel discussion on banned books (2:30-3:30pm) moderated by Glory Edim (Well-Read Black Girl) to honor Banned Books Week. Other panelists include: Keesha Ceran of Social Justice Books, 2022 SLJ Librarian of the Year K.C. Boyd, and two of Shout Mouse Press authors, Sasa Aakil ... Read More
Celebrate Banned Books Week and listen to James LaRue as he presents his book On Censorship, which uses humor, reason, and intelligence to build a case against censorship. LaRue recounts stories from his experience as a librarian confronting book banning, while also casting a wider net to encompass larger issues of censorship. Librarians and educators ... Read More
The last few years have seen an unparalleled attack on the right to read and organized campaigns against certain types of literature and programming in public and school libraries. No one person or organization can face this fight alone, and we all need to take direct action to combat censorship. Join author John Green (Looking for Alaska, The ... Read More
Join Malu Halasa and Ramita Navai here at Hatchards this evening for an event chaired by Index on Censorship editor-in-chief Jemimah Steinfeld to celebrate the launch of the book “Woman Life Freedom”. The murder of Mahsa Amini on 16 September 2022 by Iran's morality police sent shockwaves throughout the country. Protests led by women spread ... Read More
Actor, director, literacy advocate—and Banned Books Week 2023 Honorary Chair—LeVar Burton will discuss his anti-censorship work with Banned Books Week Youth Honorary Chair Da’Taeveyon Daniels during this rare live event, which will stream on Facebook. Follow @BannedBooksWeek, and join us October 4, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. CDT.
LGBTQ-themed books are under profound attack in the United States. They are challenged in droves and are decreed off-limits by school boards, legislators, and prison authorities. In PEN’s report “Banned in the USA: The Mounting Pressure to Censor,” during the 2022–23 school year, PEN America recorded 3,362 instances of books banned, an increase of 33 ... Read More
Join Penguin Random House, Booklist, and Unite Against Book Bans for a special Banned Books Week event as we premiere the video of Ibram X. Kendi’s motivating and moving speech from Rally for the Right to Read at the 2023 ALA Annual Conference. Introduced by Tracie D. Hall, Executive Director of the American Library Association, in conversation with Chris Jackson, EVP, ... Read More
Join us! We're celebrating Banned Books week with an Instagram Live on Thursday, October 5th at 3 PM EST / 12 PM PST. Author Isabel Quintero will be joining us to chat about her Morris Award-winning book, GABI, A GIRL IN PIECES, plus all things banned books. You won't want to miss it.
Join PEN Utah on October 5th as Carmen Maria Machado joins the Tanner Humanities Center for a Banned Books Week conversation about her work and being an LGBTQIA+ author. She will be joined by Jeremy Rosen, Associate Director for Faculty at the Tanner Humanities Center and Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of ... Read More
For an encore event in our Trans & Nonbinary Author Series, LGBTQI Life will host Lydia Conklin for a read from and celebrate the paperback release of Rainbow, Rainbow and a Q&A followed by mixer. Student readers include undergraduate Sawyer Sussner and MFA candidates Kumari Devarajan and Lela Ni. Lydia Conklin has received a Stegner Fellowship, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s ... Read More
Join The New York Public Library during Banned Books Week for a discussion about censorship in literature and the pivotal role public libraries play in championing the right to access a range of perspectives and ideas. Plus, discover photographs by Kimberly Butler, whose work explores censorship and banned books through visual media. This event will take ... Read More
Celebrate the freedom to read by joining us for a free event at the Blue Island Public Library! Local children's author Jarrett Dapier will read his picture book, Mr. Watson's Chickens, which has been the subject of challenges and bans. A chicken-themed craft is to follow. Local independent bookstore Bookie's will be selling copies of the ... Read More
In partnership with Book People, The Child Defense Fund of Texas, and the Austin Public Library, PEN America Austin will celebrate Banned Book Month 2023 on October 7 at Book People by demonstrating the magical power of reading. With legislature like Texas House Bill 900 threatening students’ access to books, PEN Austin is inviting local writers, readers, and free ... Read More
The BRCSJ Defenders of the Right to Read invite you to our BANNED BOOKS BRUNCH to honor Harmonica Sunbeam & Senator Andrew Zwicker!
Author Dawnavyn James will be discussing the importance of reading and teaching Black history through banned picture books
The Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County’s Banned Books Week co-chair, Alyssa Gómez Lawrence, will lead panelists Lee Chambers, Jeff Gottke, Lois Hanson, and David H. Lynn for a lively discussion of Mount Vernon & Knox County’s communal read, Maus, by Art Spiegelman. This incredibly powerful tale of survival is a contemporary classic and essential text documenting the Holocaust. Complimentary copies of Maus are ... Read More
Spend the afternoon with three different authors: Leah Johnson (1:00), K. Ancrum (2:00), and Julian Winters (3:00). Learn from the authors about their process, their books, and their thoughts on banning books. This program will kick off a series of programs centering around intellectual freedom, because Dayton Metro Library, now a Book Sanctuary, is proud ... Read More
A talk by educator Dr. Margery Marcus on the history of censorship and book banning in Floridas schools and libraries. Sponsored by the South Florida chapter of the Women’s National Book Association and Delray Beach Public Library.
In honor of Banned Books Week, PEN America’s Arizona Chapter has assembled thought leaders to discuss the torrent of book bans overtaking schools and libraries nationwide, and what can be done to stop this epidemic. This event is part of Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference at Arizona State University (ASU). This conference features nationally recognized writers ... Read More