Banned Books Week starts Sunday, and FTRF members and supporters are encouraged to check out some of these events from the 2014 recipients of grants from the Judith F. Krug Memorial Fund.  Follow the links for many more great events from these sponsors!  All events are free and open to the public.

To learn about other events in your area, and to tell people about your own events, visit the Banned Books Week calendar.

Alexandria, VA: Library Survivor interactive game. Saturday, Sept. 27, 2:00 p.m. The Athenaeum, 201 Prince St. Sponsored by the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association.

Library Survivor is a game where we pretend that the library is on fire and the trucks are loaded with books! Five books remain but there is only room on the truck for one more book. What book will we choose to save? Five banned books (played by five actors) will defend their importance to you, the audience, who will decide their fate!

Chicago, IL: Banned Chicago! Panel Discussion. Wednesday, Sept. 24, 5-7 p.m., John T. Richardson Library 1st floor Learning Commons. Sponsored by the DePaul University Library and the University Center for Writing-based Learning.

This year, Banned Books Week celebrates graphic novels and comics, frequent targets of censorship due to their visual nature. Hear from authors, artists, readers, librarians and activists at our panel discussion. Featuring:

• Student members of 451 Degrees, Lane Tech College Prep High Schools banned book club and Chicago Public Schools recent challenges to Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
• James Klise, librarian & author of Love Drugged and The Art of Secrets
• Aaron Renier, comic artist and lecturer in DePaul's College of Computing and Digital Media
  

(Reception to follow event in JTR 115)

Raleigh-Durham, NC: 30th Annual North Carolina Pride Festival. Saturday, Sept. 27, 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Duke University East Campus, Durham. Display sponsored by the LGBT Center of Raleigh Library.

Under the Center’s tent, the Library will display banned LGBT‐themed books as a reminder of our First Amendment rights and to draw attention to the harms of censorship. An official Banned Books Week event.

Columbus, OH: Open Mic Reading. Friday, Sept. 26, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., Multimedia/TV Studio, Columbus Hall first floor. Sponsored by Columbus State Community College.

The Library will be hosting a banned books-themed reading and open mic. The reading will be emceed by Associate Professor, Ann Palazzo, in partnership with the Columbus State English Department. We would like this reading to provide students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to share poetry or other creative works that explore such concepts as censorship, intellectual freedom, and banned books. Light refreshments will be provided. 

Also check out their Buzzfeed listicle & Pinterest boards - one on graphic novels & comics, one on banned book-themed films!

Pittsburgh, PA: 2014 fREADom. Monday, Sept. 22, 7:00 p.m. Jewish Community Center, Robinson Building, Katz Auditorium, 5738 Darlington Road, Squirrel Hill. Sponsored by the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgh personalities and performers will read from their favorite banned or challenged works.

Featuring:

• Charlie Batch, former quarterback- Pittsburgh Steelers/founder- Best of the Batch Foundation
• Paul Guggenheimer, host, WESA’s “Essential Pittsburgh”
• Dan Kamin, world-renowned mime
• Alan Olifson, comedian, host of Moth StorySLAM Pittsburgh
• Hope Academy of Music and the Arts, arts education outreach program for youth
• Vanessa German, poet, performer, photographer, sculptor and activist

Plus - Banned Advertising! Images and clips from ads that some folks thought you shouldn’t see!

Charleston, SC: Charleston Read-Out, Monday, Sept. 22, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, 161 Calhoun St.  Sponsored by Charleston Library Friends.

Featuring writers and artists reading from their favorite banned books. Presenters to include: Marcus Amaker, Herb Frazier, Sharon Graci, Bret Lott, Theodore Rosengarten, Joy Vandervort-Cobb, Marjory Wentworth, and Katherine Williams.

Last week we were pleased to announce the seven winners of 2014 Banned Books Week event grants via FTRF's Judith F. Krug Memorial Fund.  These $1000 grants will be used to fund projects as varied as an Hispanic authors' banned literature symposium at a New Hampshire High School, an evening in Charleston (S.C) discussing the recent censorship of Fun Home at the local College of Charleston, the creation by Columbus State College in Ohio of an online "Open Books, Open Minds" exhibit, and much more.

Congratulations to this year's recipients! Stay tuned to our Banned Books Week 2014 page for updates on the projects as well as the videos and photos the recipients post after their events.

As part of its annual "State of America's Libraries" report, the American Library Association today released the list of the top ten most frequently challenged books of 2013. Leading the list for the second year in a row is Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants series. Second was Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey, and Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games.

You can read the full Top 10 list, and compare it with prior years' lists, at http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10.