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Banned Books Week: Home

About BBW

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

 

"About." Banned Books Week. bannedbooksweek.org/about/. Accessed 5 Sept 2019.

This year, Banned Books Week is October 1 to 7. 

This year's theme is "Let Freedom Read."

Logo

"Promotional Tools." Banned Books Week. bannedbooksweek.org/promotional-tools/. Accessed 5 Sept 2019.

Why?

To learn more about why books are banned or challenged and who challenges books, please visit ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom's Q & A page.

2020 Theme

let freedom read

"Promotional Tools." Banned Books Week. bannedbooksweek.org/promotional-tools/. Accessed 2 Oct 2023.