Banned Book Week highlights censorship attempts
- Banned Books Week, running October 4 through October 10, 2026, focuses on the national campaign to restrict access to literature, with displays of challenged classics and novels wrapped in caution tape marking the annual event.
- PEN America recorded 11,982 school book bans affecting 7,370 unique titles during the 2025-26 school year, the highest number since tracking began in 2021, as systemic campaigns target books featuring LGBTQIA characters or people of color.
- The ALA reported 92 percent of book challenges in 2025 were initiated by pressure groups and officials rather than parents; 84.9 percent of librarians, predominantly women, face increasing pressure to remove books about queer identity or racial history.
- Editors increasingly reject diverse manuscripts to avoid controversy, while children relying on public school systems and libraries often lose access to stories reflecting their own lives and experiences.
- Congress is currently weighing competing legislation: one bill would withhold federal education funds from schools refusing to remove certain books, while another mandates diverse collections to preserve American literary heritage.
18 Articles
18 Articles
Tools of the Patriarchy: Censorship and the Stories Those in Power Find Dangerous
Every fall, Banned Books Week (Oct. 4-10, 2026) arrives with a familiar visual language: stacks of novels wrapped in caution tape, displays of frequently challenged classics and lists inviting readers to discover what someone, somewhere, did not want them to read. This year’s theme—“Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read”—comes amid another record-breaking year of school censorship. The books disappearing from shelves are not random. Censorsh…
Banned Book Week highlights censorship attempts
Banned Book Week draws attention to the impacts of censorship and encourages free and open access to information in the community. This year’s theme is “Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read.” Banned Book Week, which is observed from Oct. 4-10, has aimed to educate the public about book bans and challenges and the importance of the right to read and access information since 1982. The debate over book banning is divided between those who bel…
Love stories, classics and books that challenge power. During Banned Books Week, literature that has been banned or censored around the world is highlighted. “It’s a way to highlight the importance of reading freedom,” says Daniel Åhlin, who runs a bookstore in Knivsta with a focus on banned books.
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