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Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.  Books are most frequently banned or challenged if an institution or individual deems their content to be offensive.   

Ithaca College faculty, staff, students and community members will be reading aloud for 5 minutes from one of hundreds of books banned or challenged each year.  Titles include: To Kill A Mockingbird, The Sun Also Rises, Slaughterhouse-Five, and 1984.

Students who attend the event can add it to their co-curricular transcript in Engage.  Ask to sign in before or after the event.  You can register in Engage but it is not required. 

Thanks to the Handwerker Gallery and to the Amnesty International - Ithaca Chapter for co-sponsoring this event.  Visit Amnesty International's Banned Books Week website; scroll down to find six worldwide Focus Cases that you can take action on. 

More information can be found the Banned and Censored Media Library Guide.  A documentary about the challenged books at the Henrietta Public Library in Rochester, NY by Lucy Calderon & Desiree Holz (Class of 2023) has been embedded to the video page; it can also be viewed in YouTube (16 min.).