Freedom to Read Foundation announces 2025 Programming Grants

For immediate release
September 15, 2025

Freedom to Read Foundation announces 2025 Programming Grants

The Freedom to Read Foundation announces the winners of the 2025 Judith F. Krug Memorial Fund Banned Books Week Programming Grants. Created to honor FTRF founder Judy Krug's fierce advocacy for education and intellectual freedom, awardees are selected among a competitive pool of libraries, schools and nonprofit organizations that offer innovative and engaging programming for Banned Books Week. This year's winners are:

Tom C. Clark High School, San Antonio, TX

Indigenous Idaho Alliance, Boise, ID

George M. Jones Memorial Library, Lynchburg, VA

University of Buffalo Libraries, Buffalo, NY

University of Delaware Libraries, Museums and Press, Newark, DE

The annual Freedom to Read celebration at Tom C. Clark High School in San Antonio, Texas, grows each year. The weeklong celebration is anchored by a Freedom Walk that educates and engages the school community about the right to read, historical and current issues threatening that right, and actions students can take to defend their First Amendment rights. The Krug grant will expand the program even further to include an essay contest, One Book/One School program, and panel discussion with local school and community leaders to help students "engage in informed discussion on this topic, drawing insights from experts."

In observation of Banned Books Week and Indigenous People's Day, the Indigenous Idaho Alliance (IIA) will host Read for Your Rights: Native Stories Can't Be Banned. This multi-day event includes a read-in, storytelling, displays, creation spaces, and culminates with a full-day celebration and the launch of a Little Native Library that features works by Indigenous, Black, Latinx, queer, trans, and multilingual writers. "Our action plan is not just about resisting censorship--it's about reclaiming our right to remember, to read, to rise," program organizers stated.

George M. Jones Memorial Library (JML) is an independent, nonprofit library and archive that preserves and shares the history of Lynchburg, Virginia, the surrounding region, and its people. With a focus on history and genealogy, the library launched a multi-year project in 2023 to discover, acknowledge and share the names of enslaved persons in its manuscript collection. Situated in a community that has experienced increasing attacks on the freedom to read, JML has mounted a months-long exhibition on the history of book banning in Lynchburg that examines the historical frameworks in which those efforts happened. "Our central question is: what does it mean to be free in Lynchburg, from the 1700s to today?"

The University of Buffalo (UB) Libraries will join forces with the UB Prison Studies Certificate and UB College in Prison Program to shine a spotlight on the widespread but far less visible censorship of reading materials in carceral settings. Barred and Banned: Censorship Behind Bars will feature a month-long, multi-platform exhibit about book banning in U.S. jails and prisons that launches during Banned Books Week. It will also include public programming that convenes advocates, educators, and formerly incarcerated individuals, in order to "ensure visibility, spark curiosity, and bring new audiences in the conversation" to "foster both awareness and dialogue of the power, and the politics, of reading in prison."

With increased attacks on LGBTQ+ individuals, The University of Delaware Library, Museums, and Press will host a week-long commemoration of Banned Books Week that interrogates and works to combat censorship of literature by and about LGBTQ+ people. Bringing together groups across the university community with activists, elected officials, and writers, the week will include expansive outreach to students and a campus-wide read-out. This year's commemoration "attests to the acute importance of highlighting the harms of book censorship and celebrating the freedom to read."

While varied in scope and size, each of the recipient organizations has committed to advancing intellectual freedom through education and community-building. As they examine the role of libraries and partner organizations in protecting First Amendment rights, each awardee unites a diverse range of stakeholders around a firm commitment to understanding and defending our fundamental right to receive and create information.

The Freedom to Read Foundation is an independent, 501(c)3 non-profit legal and educational organization dedicated to protecting and defending each person's First Amendment right to read and the right of library workers to serve the information needs of their community. Since 1969 FTRF trustees, staff, and members have worked to protect First Amendment rights through education, litigation, and advocacy. To learn more about FTRF or the Krug grants, visit https://www.ftrf.org. 

The Freedom to Read Foundation is a member of the Banned Books Week Coalition. To learn more about this year’s theme and program opportunities visit https://bannedbooksweek.org.