The University of North Texas Libraries joins Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society, to present the Banned Books Readout!

UNT students, faculty, and staff, and the Denton community are invited to join us to read from your favorite banned or challenged book. Sign up here to read!

Young Adult books are the focus of the 2015 Banned Books Week, the annual celebration of the freedom to read.

“Young Adult books are challenged more frequently than any other type of book,” said Judith Platt, chair of the American Library Association Banned Books Week National Committee. “These are the books that speak most immediately to young people, dealing with many of the difficult issues that arise in their own lives, or in the lives of their friends. These are the books that give young readers the ability to safely explore the sometimes scary real world. This Banned Books Week is a call to action, to remind everyone that young people need to be allowed the freedom to read widely, to read books that are relevant for them, and to be able to make their own reading choices.”

Banned Books Week is the national book community’s annual celebration of the freedom to read. Hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2015 celebration will be held September 27-October 3.

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982 according to the American Library Association. There were 311 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2014, and many more go unreported.

The readout will take place Tuesday, September 29, 2015, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Library Mall behind the book sculpture near Jody’s Fountain. Voter registration will be available at the event!

The Banned Books Readout is free and open to the public. For information on visiting the UNT campus, please go to Parking and Transportation Services.

For additional information on Sigma Tau Delta, visit their webpage.