Banned Books Week 2010 Kicks Off on September 25

Washington, DC/AUTHORLINK NEWS/September 23, 2010—Members of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) are gearing up for the celebration of Banned Books Week, which will be observed this year from September 25 through October 2. A time to stop and appreciate our right as Americans to read and to think freely, this annual celebration was created in 1982 by the American Library Association, along with the American Booksellers Association and AAP, in response to the growing number of attempts to remove or restrict access to books in public and school libraries, classrooms and bookstores.

Among the activities planned by publishers to mark this year’s celebration:

Simon & Schuster is re-issuing a poster featuring a powerful “Manifesto” on censorship by author Ellen Hopkins. Hopkins is the popular Young Adult author whose invitation to speak at a teen literary festival in Texas was withdrawn after some members of the community voiced objections to the subject matter of her books. Her “dis-invitation” prompted other authors to withdraw and the event was subsequently cancelled. The poster can be found and downloaded at http://www.simonandschuster.com/admin_assets/3289_Banned_Broadside.pdf and will be made available in Chicago on September 25 at the ALA “Banned Books Readout.”

HarperCollins Children’s Books will commemorate Banned Books Week on their numerous social networks by implementing a social media outreach campaign targeting teens, teachers, librarians, bloggers and general media outlets. The Pageturn, their School & Library blog, will discuss Harper’s most frequently banned books and will also include links to discussion guides (where available) to provide tools for teachers and librarians who want to discuss banned books further with children and teens. HarperCollins Children’s will leverage their social networks on Twitter and Facebook to join in the Banned Books conversation. The Greenwillow Books blog, Under the Greenwillow, will also talk about censorship in featuring one of the most frequently challenged authors in America, Chris Crutcher, who will take part in the ALA Banned Books Read-Out in Chicago on September 25 and in a Banned Books event at the Chicago Public Library on September 27. Harper will also promote Crutcher’s appearances in Chicago and his Banned Books guide across their social networks.

Random House Children’s Books will mark Banned Books Week with a variety of events at their New York offices September 27-October 1. A dynamic toolbox site http://www.randomhouse.com/banned has been created to raise awareness of past and current banned and challenged books and to provide resources and strategies to support those who are fighting book challenges in their own communities. The site also features thoughts on censorship from Random House authors. For as long as supplies last, a free book that has been banned or challenged will be sent out during the week to anyone who posts the Random House Banned Books Awareness graphic, blogs, or tweets about Banned Books Week. They can be reached at firstamendment@randomhouse.com.

To engage educators across the country in a conversation about book banning, each school day during Banned Books Week the Random House Academic Marketing department will share notes from authors and organizations about challenges and triumphs in fighting censorship. The messages are being rolled out via Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/randomhousehighschool) Twitter (http://twitter.com/RHhighschool) and their blog (http://rhimagazine.com/)

Book challenges occur in all parts of our country and come from the entire spectrum of political and religious viewpoints. An updated map showing incidents and challenges in 2007-2010 illustrates just how pervasive book censorship is. The map was drawn from cases documented by the American Library Association and the Kids Right to Read Project, and can be found at:

http://bannedbooksweek.org/Mapofbookcensorship.html

For additional information, visit the Banned Books Week web site at: http://www.bannedbooksweek.orgthe/ Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of the freedom to read and the freedom to publish at home and abroad, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Association’s highest priorities.