American Library Association Promotes Banned Books Week
Banned Books Week
Celebrating the Freedom to Read
September 26 - October 3, 2009
Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual American Library Association event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.
Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.
VCU Libraries' James Branch Cabell Library is named for noted Richmond author James Branch Cabell (1879-1958). Cabell's "Jurgen" (1919) was considered pornographic by some and was banned soon after its publication. A trial over its content brought the reclusive writer national fame. Read more about Cabell and the Banning of Jurgen.
Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of College Stores. Banned Books Week is also endorsed by the Center for the Book of the Library of Congress. Learn more about Banned Book Week from the American Library Association, including the list of the ten most challenged book titles for 2008, and a section titled "what you can do" to help fight censorship.