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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 "Stand for the Banned" when titling and tagging your video. A good title example is "Stand for the Banned: A Reading from 'I Am Jazz'" and "Stand for the Banned: Why I Read 'Looking for Alaska'"
- If you’re submitting multiple videos, please create a YouTube playlist and submit one URL using the form.
- Here are a few questions you can answer in your short video:
- What would you say to your favorite banned author?
- How has a banned book impacted your life?
- Have you ever been censored?