This week, October 5-11, marks the 43rd year of celebrating the freedom to read with the American Library Association’s Banned Book Week. It started in 1982, in response to a surge in book challenges and inspired by the landmark Supreme Court case, Island Trees School District v. Pico, which ruled that school officials cannot ban books solely based on their content (ala.org/advocacy). Now, decades later, we are experiencing a similar increase in censorship attempts across the country.
In their latest report, PEN America found that 6,870 books bans were enacted during the 2024-25 school year, across 23 states and 87 public school districts. And everywhere, more often than not, it is the books that have long fought for a place on the shelf that are being targeted: Books by authors of color, by LGBTQ+ authors and books by women. Books about racism, sexuality, gender and history also top the list. Public library collections, too, are being attacked: the number of titles challenged in public libraries increased by 92% in 2023 alone. This increase is largely driven by organized groups and politicians, rather than isolated incidents, with groups demanding the censorship of multiple titles, sometimes dozens at a time (pen.org/book-bans).
Libraries provide free access to information and resources that are vital to a functioning democracy. Banning books and censoring materials not only denies citizens their fundamental right to free speech but is a slippery slope to greater infringements and abuses of power, examples of which are in the news almost daily.
It’s fitting that the theme for this year’s Banned Books Week is “Censorship is So 1984,” as the world we are living in seems increasingly Orwellian. In the book, we are warned, “who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” Who will control our future? Who is controlling our present? Banned Books Week is the perfect time to reflect on these questions and take action against censorship in all its forms because, in a democratic society, free people read freely.
Mary Pellicano
Talbot County Free Library Trustee
Easton
Darrell Parsons says
Yes!
Wilson Dean says
Why would anyone want to ban a book other than they are so insecure in their own beliefs they fear anyone who thinks differently?
Michael Davis says
Your question os rhetorical and makes that good point that book banners are spiritually weak people who want to control others.