Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Usually held during the last full week in September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information. The observance draws attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting the actual or attempted banning of books across the United States. Banned Books Week has been observed since 1982, and this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.
Banned Books Week is sponsored by the is sponsored by a coalition of organizations dedicated to free expression, including American Booksellers Association; American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of University Presses; Authors Guild; Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE); 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. Banned Books Week also receives generous support from DKT Liberty Project and Penguin Random House.