Banned Books Week: Overview

Banned Books Week is September 23 - 29th, 2018. 

Check out our events and celebrate your freedom to read!

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically 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. Since its inception in 1982, Banned Books Week has reminded us that while not every book is intended for every reader, each of us has the right to decide for ourselves what to read, listen to or view.

Join the DePaul University Library and the DePaul University Center for Writing-based Learning at these events to celebrate your freedom to read.

Friday September 21st, 11 AM - Noon: Catch the UCWbL and the Library as they discuss banned books on Scrawl Radio.

Friday September 28, 1:00 - 2:30 PM: City Lit Theater presents: Books on the Chopping Block, 115 John T. Richardson Library. Watch a performance of readings from the 10 most challenged books of 2017 by the actors of City Lit Theater. Come early and make a button featuring a favorite banned book!  Refreshments, Raffle (win a banned book!) and Q&A to follow.

Every year, there are hundreds of known attempts to remove books from bookstores, libraries and schools.  That’s thousands of lost opportunities to explore ideas that fuel understanding. Words have power and access to diverse ideas makes all of us more powerful. #wordshavepower