It's here! Celebrate Banned Books Week!

CHICAGO — Banned Books Week, the annual celebration of the freedom to read, is here! From New York to Alaska, libraries, schools, bookstores and book-loving individuals across the country are fighting back against censorship and saying yes to their right to read.

From Sept. 21 to Sept. 27, hundreds of events are happening in local communities and thousands of conversations are taking place online. Don’t miss either. Below are just a few ways you can get involved.

1. Find an event in your community at: http://bannedbooksweek.org/events

2. Follow us on Twitter at @BannedBooksWeek and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/bannedbooksweek for the latest news and updates

3. Add our Twibbon to your profile pic: http://twb.ly/432U2GAF

4. Tape yourself reading from your favorite banned book during our Virtual Read-Out: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/virtualreadoutsubmission

5. Attend the SAGE/OIF Banned Books Week webinar: http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=5122

Our sponsors have also been busy planning events and rallying their communities. Learn more:

1.American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression’s Banned Books Week Handbook and press release

2.American Library Association press release

3. Association of American Publishers press release

4. Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Banned Books Week Tour

5. Freedom to Read Foundation Krug-Sponsored Banned Books Week events

6. National Coalition Against Censorship events

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. 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 is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Library Association, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Association of American Publishers, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Freedom to Read Foundation, National Association of College Stores, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Council of Teachers of English, PEN American Center, and Project Censored. Banned Books Week is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress

More information is available at www.bannedbooksweek.org

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Contact:

Maggie Jacoby

Banned Books Week Coordinator

mjacoby@gmail.com