KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! If you happen to have evidence of individuals or groups trying to infringe on you and your community's right to read, acquire, or select reading materials, please report the incident to the ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom.
From: https://bannedbooksweek.org/about/
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.
Banned Books Week 2025 takes place October 5 – 11. The theme of this year’s event is “Censorship is so 1984.”
By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the damage and toxicity of censorship. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles lists of challenged books as reported in the media and submitted by librarians and teachers across the country.
Banned Books Essay Contest has ended. Please join us again next fall in 2026.
Banned—In the context of books, "banned" means the book is removed from a program, library, or school—and in some cases, private ownership of the book is outlawed.
Censored - refers to the status of words in the book being covered so their visibility is obscured. As a practice, books can have controversial words and phrases obscured with substances or items such as permanent markers or whiteouts.
Challenged - refers to the status of a book as not necessarily banned, but through formal or informal proposals or suggestions, the book's status would be up for debate. When a book fails to get banned, it is said to be "retained," and access to it remains unhindered.
Expurgated - a form of book censorship that omits words, phrases, or even entire pages of text from a book.