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Marisa Bluestone mbluestone@publishers.org {202} 220-4558
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September 22, 2017

Publishers Support 35th Annual Banned Books Week with Events, Outreach and Activities

Washington, DC; September 22, 2017 – The Association of American Publishers (AAP) and our members are supporting the 35th annual Banned Books Week (#BannedBooksWeek), with events, activities and outreach. This year’s celebration takes place the week of September 24 and focuses on the importance of the First Amendment and the right to read. The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) found a 17% increase in book censorship complaints in 2016.

“Books from AAP’s members encourage kids and young adults to explore worlds beyond their own and understand cultures, concepts they wouldn’t have otherwise. As stewards of a democratic society, publishers help ensure that these young minds have the freedom and access to read books of their choosing,” said Tina Jordan, Vice President, Trade Publishing at the Association of American Publishers.

Led by Penguin Random House and supported by Hachette Book Group, our member publishers, companies and organizations will be celebrating online and in person throughout the week with events and activities. See below to learn more about what publishers are doing to support Banned Books Week:

  • Penguin Random House celebrates Banned Books Week across all divisions and imprints. Toast banned books with other readers at a free event featuring author readings of banned books with wine at the Kate Werble Gallery on September 27 in New York. There is also a new reading list page dedicated to celebrating and reading Banned Books and in partnership with Out of Print will donate one book for each piece of Banned Books merchandise purchased on the Out of Print website in their ongoing support of hurricane relief efforts. Readers can also enter the Penguin Random House Banned Books Box Sweepstakes. Other highlights include:
    • Penguin Young Readers’ and Random House Children’s Books is supporting booksellers with a special Banned Books Week kit, which includes displays, background on banned books and two copies of banned books, including Al Capone Does My Shirts, I Am Jazz, Looking for Alaska, The Cay, The Chocolate War, The Face on the Milk Carton, The Golden Compass, The Lorax, The Outsiders, The Witches, Thirteen Reasons Why, Two Boys Kissing, and more.
    • Educators and librarians are invited to celebrate their freedom to read by noting their favorite banned or challenged book on Penguin Classroom’s social media channels. Check out Penguin Classics Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr throughout the week.
    • Random House Children’s Books have an updated Banned Books Web page with great resources including strategies, discussions and activities to help readers, teachers and librarians celebrate the week. Follow its kids and teen social channels (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter), @RHCBEducators on Twitter, and the “Random School House” Facebook page for even more special content, including a dedicated page on the first amendment for teens.
  • Hachette Book Group is encouraging their social communities to #ReadResistRebel during Banned Books Week with their corporate and NOVL brands. They’ll celebrate the week with a shareable graphics campaign and will use NOVL’s social media channels: thenovl.com, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Hachette’s imprint and corporate social accounts to raise awareness of Banned Books Week. Follow the social feeds to learn about sweepstakes to win the NOVL #ReadResistRebel prize pack.
  • HarperCollins Children’s Books will be encouraging readers to support and read banned books with content shared across social media. Find them @EpicReads, @HarperTeen, @HarperChildrens, @HarperStacks. There are also dedicated websites, including one that lists banned books, resources from Epic Reads including profile images for Facebook and Twitter pages, and a YouTube video with quotes from banned books.
  • Holiday House is promoting the Right to Read during Banned Books Week through their social media channels. Follow Holiday House Books on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for a chance to win a copy of the oft-banned Caldecott Honor-winning Little Red Riding Hood by Trina Schart Hyman.
  • SAGE Publishing is teaming up the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and Index on Censorship on a free webinar on the topic of individuals banned or disinvited from campus speaking engagements in an effort to open discussion on issues that surround the banning of books (Tues, Sep 26, 12pm ET). Registration is required. Also, SAGE and ALA once again ran a “Stand for the Banned Booth” at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, where about 200 booth visitors shared their thoughts about books that have been banned or challenged. SAGE will also be sharing some free journal articles related to censorship on its blog SAGE Connection and other updates on Twitter via @SAGE_News.
  • Scholastic will highlight, through its network of social media channels, some of its most prominent and award-winning books that have been challenged. Scholastic’s “On Our Minds” blog will feature a slideshow of book covers and will share related content on the various Scholastic social media accounts, including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. They’ll also share their recent Scholastic Reads podcast episode on banned books (also available on iTunes.)
  • Simon & Schuster is doing even more this year to celebrate Banned Books Week. In addition to a dedicated landing page (a banned books collection sweepstakes, a special catalog of banned books, author quotes and more) they also have a new social media campaign and video highlighting some surprising books that have been challenged or banned. Through RivetedLit.com readers can also access free reads of frequently banned or challenged books. Stop by their Rockefeller Center office to see the Banned Books Week display in the lobby. Follow along for more Banned Books Weeks info through social media on their channels: @SSEdLib, @RivetedLit, @SimonTeen, @SimonKids and @SimonSchuster.
  • Sourcebooks will be doing flash giveaways through their social media channels of This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson, a YA nonfiction book that has recently been challenged, and Patricia Forde’s The List, a middle-grade dystopian novel about a world where language has been limited to 500 words. Find them on Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr and participate in the conversation.

Many publishers, including Bloomsbury, are using the #BannedBooksWeek hashtag and their social channels to promote and encourage discussions on advocacy for all readers,.

AAP is a founding member of the Banned Book Week Coalition, a national alliance of organizations joined by a commitment to increase awareness of the annual celebration of the freedom to read. Other members include: American Booksellers Association; American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; American Association of University Presses; Authors Guild; Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; Dramatists Legal Defense Fund; Freedom to Read Foundation; Index on Censorship; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; PEN America; People for the American Way Foundation; and Project Censored. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

About AAP

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) represents more than 300 book and journal publishers in the United States on matters of law and policy. Find us online at publishers.org or on twitter at @AmericanPublish.

AAP is active in freedom of expression regionally, nationally and globally. Its Freedom to Read Committee serves as the publishing industry’s watchdog on a wide-ranging slate of free speech-related issues and its International Freedom to Publish group works to support challenged authors and publishers internationally.