Banned Book Week, which runs from today through October 1st this year, celebrates the freedom to read what we choose and the essential protections offered by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It highlights the many benefits of free and open access to information and the deleterious impact of censorship by spotlighting attempts at banning books across the US.

BBW underscores the necessity of ensuring that open availability of challenging, unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all to read and access. Each year, booksellers, librarians, teachers and civil libertarians throughout the United States use the BBW events to stress the importance of the First Amendment, the power of the printed word and to draw attention to the dangers that arise when restrictions are impossed on the availability of information and ideas in a free society.

This year, Banned Book Week is officially sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the American Library Association, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Association of American Publishers, PEN AmPerica Center and the National Coalition Against Censorship.

Related articles

• Mark Twain story formally ‘unbanned’ in US (guardian.co.uk)
• ‘Eve’s Diary,’ Banned Twain Book, Back at Charlton, Mass., Library (nytimes.com)
• Dublin Library Hosting Showing of Film “Fahrenheit 451″ on Saturday, September 24th (dublinlibrary.wordpress.com)
• Banned Books Week (witsblog.org)