Your words have power. Stand up to censorship and declare your literary freedoms by reading from a banned book or discussing censorship issues on camera.

Since the inception of Banned Books Week in 1982, libraries and bookstores throughout the country have staged local read-outs, continuous readings of banned and challenged books. Banned authors such as Judy Blume, Stephen Chbosky and Chris Crutcher have participated. Readers can join the action by posting a video of themselves reading from a banned book or talking about censorship. Videos may be featured on the Banned Books Week YouTube channel.

Before you press “record,” check out the following guidelines and ideas:

• Videos should be shorter than three minutes.
• The ALA lists of the Top Ten Challenged Books and Frequently Challenged Books will provide some inspiration on which books to read from or talk about.
• ​Include the phrase “Banned Books Week” when titling and tagging your video. A good title example is “Banned Books Week Virtual Read-Out: A Reading from ‘I Am Jazz'” or “Banned Books Week: Why I Read ‘Looking for Alaska'”
• If you’re submitting multiple videos, please create a YouTube playlist and submit one URL using the form.