“This is a dangerous time for readers and the public servants who provide access to reading materials. Readers, particularly students, are losing access to critical information, and librarians and teachers are under attack for doing their jobs.”
- Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom
Tune in throughout Banned Books Week for a series of free online events featuring authors, librarians, and activists working to fight censorship.
Learn more
Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to read and spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. For 40 years, the annual event has brought 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. The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted for removal or restriction in libraries and schools. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.
In a time of intense political polarization, library staff in every state are facing an unprecedented number of attempts to ban books. ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 729 challenges to library, school and university materials and services in 2021, resulting in more than 1,597 individual book challenges or removals. Most targeted books were by or about Black or LGBTQIA+ persons.
The theme for Banned Books Week 2022 is "Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us." Sharing stories important to us means sharing a part of ourselves. Books reach across boundaries and build connections between readers. Censorship, on the other hand, creates barriers. Banned Books Week is both a reminder of the unifying power of stories and the divisiveness of censorship, and a call to action for readers across the country to push back against censorship attempts in their communities.
Unite Against Book Bans is a national initiative to empower readers everywhere to stand together in the fight against censorship. Take action and defend the right to read for all Americans.
Join the Movement
About Book Bans and Challenges
Books are still being banned and challenged today. A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials.
While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, the books have remained available. This happens only thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, students, and community members who stand up and speak out for the freedom to read.
Top 10 Most Challenged Books
Lists of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books for each year.
Frequently Challenged Books
Search lists of frequently banned and challenged books.
George M. Johnson: Banned Books Week 2022 Honorary Chair
George M. Johnson (they/them) is an award-winning Black nonbinary activist and author of The New York Times–bestselling young adult memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020) and We Are Not Broken (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2021). All Boys Aren’t Blue was the third title on ALA’s Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2021 list.
Read more about George
Display Ideas
Banned book displays kick-off conversations about censorship and inspire readers to explore challenged materials. Check out some display ideas from libraries across the U.S. — some of which only require construction paper and an imagination.
Get Inspired
Additional Resources
Banned Books Week Q&A
This resource offers issues, strategies, and resources for preparing your professional community (teacher librarians and public librarians) to celebrate Banned Books Week.
A History of Banned Books Week
Read about the history of Banned Books Week and ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom in American Libraries Magazine.
Report Censorship
Report challenges to or bans of materials, resources, programs, and services to ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom.
Media Inquiries
For media inquiries or to schedule an interview related to Banned Books Week or other ALA intellectual freedom initiatives, contact ALA's Communications and Marketing Office.