Banned Books Week is October 5-11

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in libraries, bookstores, and schools. The annual event highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community — librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas.

As much as I’d like to say that Banned Books Week is no longer a needed week of recognition as it may have been in the early 1980’s, unfortunately, that is not the case. The number of books that have faced bans across the country, even here in Oregon, over the last few years has been staggering. According to PEN America, there have been 6,870 book bans that have been enacted in just the 2024-2025 school year alone. The number of book bans and censorship we are facing now is akin to the Red Scare era of the 1950s led by Senator McCarthy.

It is important to acknowledge that book bans are not just straight bans, meaning that the book cannot be found anywhere in the school or library, but we are also seeing a rise in “soft bans” where books are shelved in different areas, or there are barriers in place to prevent students and library patrons from accessing those materials. This often looks like shelving children or young adult books in adult sections or requiring a special ID or card to be able to access those materials. All of these are bans and censorship and infringe on our first amendment rights.

At their root, book bans are an attempt by some in power to censor ideas, stories, and facts they deem too dangerous to spread. Book bans and the other types of censorship that we see rising right now are intended to keep the general populace ignorant. Ignorant of the ways those in power oppress us and hinder our own thriving. It is no coincidence that the majority of books that face bans are books that have fought hard to find space on bookshelves to begin with: books written by authors from the global majority and LGBTQIA+ authors, in addition to books about racism, gender, sexuality, and history.

Every book we carry at our store has been banned or is at risk of being banned. That is precisely one reason why we focus on these titles. We strongly believe these books are important, vital even, to our society and our democracy. We hope you’ll join us this week and all year in fighting book bans and censorship. As a trans, queer, and neurodivergent-owned bookstore, we recognize the reality that not only are our stories being censored and deemed “explicit”, but our lives are being targeted as well. We hope you’ll stand with us in the fight against censorship, book bans, discrimination, and fascism.

Join us for a Banned Books Week Book Club & Pop-up this Thursday from 5-9pm

Thursday, October 9 @ Bar Loon | 3325 SE Belmont, Portland, OR

Join us as we gather as a community to discuss some of our favorite banned books and learn more on how to combat book bans. We’ll also have some of our books for sale so you can stock up on physical copies of banned or at risk books without the worry of digital copies being stripped.

• Bring a banned book that has impacted you. We’ll gather together to chat about how these books have impacted us and what their ban means to us as well.

• For the second half of our evening, we’ll have stations set up to learn more about book bans and the ability to take actions against them. This will include writing messages to legislatures, signing petitions, learning more about your local school board, and supporting the library.

• As always, there will be time to mingle, build community, and we eat some great food and drink from our friends at Bar Loon!

Top 10 Banned Books of 2024

For a more thorough list of the most challenged books over the years, please see the American Library Association’s archive.

Local to Portland? Find us in-person in July:

• THIS THURSDAY, Oct 9: Banned Books Book Club & Pop-up, 5-9pm | Bar Loon | 3326 SE Belmont

  • We’ll chat about banned books that have impacted us and take action to combat book bans.

• Saturday, October 11: Audiobook Walk, 10am | Wallflower Coffee Co | 3158 SE Division

  • Arrive early for drinks or treats before we go on a group walk while we listen to audiobooks.

  • Bring headphones and an audiobook! We recommend checking out Libro.fm or the library for audiobooks. It might be raining a little bit, so be prepared.

• Sunday, October 26: Portland Flea, 11am-4pm | 831 SE Salmon Street
  Portland, OR 97214

• Keep your eyes on our event page for more fun!

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