Banned Books Week has just launched in the United States, an annual event with international support that unites the book community in support of the freedom to read.
This year’s theme is “Censorship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights“, which highlights the 2452 unique titles challenged in American public, school, and academic libraries last year – the third-highest number ever recorded by the American Library Association.
The event, supported by organisations such as the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, is organised by the American Library Association and the Banned Books Week Coalition, an international alliance of diverse organisations, joined by a commitment to increase awareness of the annual celebration of the freedom to read. The Coalition seeks to engage various communities and inspire participation in Banned Books Week through education, advocacy, and the creation of programming about the problem of book censorship.
Sadly, this year’s annual event comes at a time when censorship seems on the rise – and not just in America.
One of the most challenged books is the graphic memoir, Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, recounts Kobabe’s journey from adolescence to adulthood and the author’s exploration of gender identity and sexuality, ultimately identifying as being outside of the gender binary.
Gender Queer was one of ten books to receive an Alex Award from the American Library Association, for “books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18.” It was also a finalist for the Stonewall Book Award for non-fiction the same year, awards that led to the book becoming more widely available in school libraries.
Also on the list is Flamer, the debut graphic novel of Mike Curato, telling a difficult story with humor, compassion, and love.
This year’s Honorary Chair of Banned Book Week is the Star Trek actor and activist George Takei, author of the award-winning New York Times bestseller graphic novel They Called Us Enemy, published by Top Shelf Productions in 2019. Co-written with Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott, illustrated by Harmony Becker, the book depicts Mr. Takei’s childhood as one of 125,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned in concentration camps by the U.S. government during World War Two. This graphic memoir has been targeted by censors multiple times since publication, most recently in Monroe County School District in Tennessee, where it was among nearly 600 titles removed in an attempt to comply with the state’s vaguely-worded Age-Appropriate Materials Act.
Mr. Takei’s latest acclaimed graphic memoir, It Rhymes With Takei was released earlier this year by Top Shelf Productions, also co-written with Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott, with art by Harmony Becker. Publishers Weekly described the new novel in its starred review as challenging “Americans to look to how past humanitarian injustices speak to current political debates.”
It has not appeared on banned books lists yet. But the memoir’s depiction of Mr. Takei’s life as a closeted gay man and decision to come out at the age of 68 will likely meet resistance in places where state and local laws target the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ materials in schools and libraries.
“Books are an essential foundation of democracy,” says Mr. Takei. “Our ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’ depends on a public that is informed and empathetic, and books teach us both information and empathy. Yet the right to read is now under attack from school boards and politicians across America.
“I’m proud to serve as honorary chair of Banned Books Week, because I remember all too well the lack of access to books and media that I needed growing up. First as a child in a barbed-wire prison camp, then as a gay young man in the closet, I felt confused and hungry for understanding about myself and the world around me. Now, as an author, I share my own stories so that new generations will be better informed about their history and themselves.
“Please stand with me in opposing censorship, so that we all can find ourselves – and each other – in books.”
In addition to Mr. Takei, youth honorary chair Iris Mogul will also raise awareness about censorship threats throughout Banned Books Week. Ms. Mogul is a Florida teen who started a banned books club in her community after the state implemented laws that resulted in the removal of hundreds of books about race, history, and sexuality from schools. Ms. Mogul continued her advocacy work as a student leader in the National Coalition Against Censorship’s Student Advocates for Speech and received an honorable mention from the Miami Herald Silver Knight Awards in May 2025.
Running until 11th October, Banned Books Week highlights current efforts to ban books and information held in schools, libraries, archives, and bookstores are a truth close to fiction – namely, the depiction of extreme censorship by an oppressive regime in George Orwell’s cautionary and prescient tale 1984. The Banned Books Week 2025 theme reminds us that the right to read belongs to all of us, that censorship has no place in contemporary society, and that we must defend our rights.
ALA recently released the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024 list and the State of America’s Libraries Report. The majority of book censorship attempts that ALA tracked in 2024 come from organised movements. Pressure groups and government entities that include elected officials, board members, and administrators initiated 72% of demands to censor books in school and public libraries. The 120 titles most frequently targeted for censorship during 2024 are all identified on partisan book rating sites, which provide tools for activists to demand the censorship of library books.
Additionally, PEN America recorded the highest instances of book censorship in schools and the highest number of unique titles banned during the 2023-2024 school year – more than 4000 unique titles were removed in over 10,000 instances of book bans. PEN America also tracked the influence of pressure groups, finding that they have undertaken efforts to remove materials in nearly every state.
The Banned Books Week Coalition includes American Booksellers for Free Expression, American Library Association, Amnesty International USA, Association of University Presses, Banned Books Week Sweden, Children’s Book Council, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Freedom to Read Foundation, Little Free Library, National Book Foundation, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Council of Teachers of English, PEN America, People for the American Way Foundation, PFLAG National. Contributors include American Society of Journalists and Authors, Authors Guild, Index on Censorship, GLAAD, and Project Censored. Banned Books Week receives generous support from Penguin Random House.
A variety of free downloads, resources, and materials to support Banned Books Week activities can be found at bannedbooksweek.org and ala.org/bbooks
• The Top 10 Most Challenged Books lists are released annually during National Library Week and Right to Read Day
Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024
Every year, the American Library Association compiles a list of the Top 10 Most Frequently Challenged Books based on reports from the field and media coverage.
- All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson (uk.bookshop.org Affiliate Link)
Number of challenges: 39
Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit - Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (uk.bookshop.org Affiliate Link)
Number of challenges: 38
Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit - (TIE) The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (uk.bookshop.org Affiliate Link)
Number of challenges: 35
Challenged for: depiction of sexual assault, depiction of incest, claimed to be sexually explicit, EDI content - (TIE) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (uk.bookshop.org Affiliate Link)
Number of challenges: 35
Challenged for: claimed to be sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content, depiction of sexual assault, depiction of drug use, profanity - Tricks by Ellen Hopkins (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
Number of challenges: 33
Challenged for: claimed to be sexually explicit - (TIE) Looking for Alaska by John Green (uk.bookshop.org Affiliate Link)
Number of challenges: 30
Challenged for: claimed to be sexually explicit - (TIE) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (uk.bookshop.org Affiliate Link)
Number of challenges: 30
Challenged for: claimed to be sexually explicit, profanity - (TIE) Crank by Ellen Hopkins (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
Number of challenges: 28
Challenged for: claimed to be sexually explicit, depiction of drug use - (TIE) Sold by Patricia McCormick (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
Number of challenges: 28
Challenged for: claimed to be sexually explicit, depiction of sexual assault - Flamer by Mike Curato (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
Number of challenges: 27
Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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