Censorship

National Read-In Set for Thursday Evening

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Always books. Never boring.

If you’re looking for a way to connect with others passionate about intellectual freedom and the freedom to read, you’ll want to pencil Thursday, April 7 into your calendar for The National Read-In, hosted by Book Ban Busters and several co-organizers, including the Women’s March, We Need Diverse Books, PEN America, Red Wine and Blue, and more.

Log in at 8 pm Eastern to hear from an array of advocates for the right to read. Among the lineup are Stella Parton, who recently highlighted attacks against her sister Dolly’s Imagination Library; Brad Meltzer, author of I Am Rosa Parks and I Am Martin Luther King, Jr.; Leslea Newman, author of Heather Has Two Mommies; Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli, authors of Our Skin; I.W. Gregorio, author of None of the Above; and Nikki Grimes, author of Ordinary Hazards. You’ll hear about their experiences having their books challenged and removed from shelves, as well as specific, on-the-ground action you can take to help ensure readers can access any material they want to, when they want to, from their libraries.

This free event requires registration, and while you tune in, you’re encouraged to also join the conversation on social media with the #BannedBooksChallenge hashtag. Grab some of your favorite challenged books, a beverage of choice, and get fired up to take action against ongoing censorship efforts.

For more ways to take action against censorship, use this toolkit for how to fight book bans and challenges, as well as this guide to identifying fake news. Then learn how and why you may want to use FOIA to uncover book challenges.