The Pulaski County Public Library is celebrating the freedom to read during Banned Books Week October 5–11! The theme for 2025 is “Censorship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights.”
As part of this year’s celebration, we will host a Community Book Discussion of 1984 by George Orwell on two dates: Friday, October 10th at 2:30 p.m. at the library, and an encore discussion on Tuesday, October 21st at 5:30 p.m. at Poblanos. Free copies of the book are available at the library while supplies last. We also have several copies available for checkout.
Banned Books Week spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools through challenges and bans. A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials.
With current efforts to ban books in libraries, schools, and bookstores around the country, Orwell’s 1984 – a dystopian tale in which the government controls what citizens can read and think – serves as a prescient and cautionary warning about the dangers of censorship. This year’s 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.
Every year, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles a list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books in order to inform the public about censorship in libraries and schools. Read the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024 list and the State of America’s Libraries report.
The 2024 data shows that the majority of book censorship attempts are now originating from organized 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. Parents only accounted for 16% of demands to censor books, while 5% of challenges were brought by individual library users.
Pioneering actor, author, and activist George Takei has been named honorary chair of Banned Books Week. “Books are an essential foundation of democracy,” said 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.”
Censorship threatens our freedom as individuals to choose and think for ourselves. At the Pulaski County Public Library, we stand firmly against censorship and for your right to read freely. Join us this Banned Books Week to celebrate and defend intellectual freedom!