The American Library Association and Banned Books Week Coalition have announced the theme for this year's Banned Books Week: "Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read." Banned Books Week will take place October 4–10, 2026.
The struggle against book bans is too immense to capture in a single image. This year’s Banned Books Week campaign features three illustrations showing how libraries and access to information enrich our lives. The artwork from award-winning illustrators Hyesu Lee, Loveis Wise, and Mikey Burton embraces joy and creativity as acts of resilience, reminding our communities that a handful of people running organized censorship campaigns should not be allowed to dictate what the rest of us can read.
The Let Books Be theme was developed in collaboration with Little Jacket, the firm behind ALA’s Libraries Transform campaign. Banned Books Week posters, bookmarks, stickers, and more are available in the ALA Store. Apparel, totes, drinkware, and other materials featuring the illustrations—including Spanish versions—are available in the Library Gift Shop.
Banned Books Week launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of book challenges in libraries, schools, and bookstores. ALA offers a variety of free downloads, resources, and materials to support Banned Books Week activities, which are added to this page and their Free Downloads page as they become available.
Libraries, schools, and nonprofit organizations that plan to participate in Banned Books Week are encouraged to apply for a Judith F. Krug Memorial Fund Programming Grant from the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF). Grant applications open in early spring. (Applications for 2026 are already closed, but it's not too early to start planning for next year!)
ALA is a founding member of the Banned Books Week Coalition, an international alliance of diverse organizations joined by a commitment to increase awareness of the annual celebration of the freedom to read. The Coalition appoints an honorary chair and youth honorary chair to lead Banned Books Week. Past honorary chairs include banned authors Jason Reynolds (All American Boys, 2021) and George M. Johnson (All Boys Aren’t Blue, 2022), literacy champion LeVar Burton (Reading Rainbow, 2023), award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay (Origin, 2024), and civil rights icon and pioneering actor George Takei (They Called Us Enemy, Star Trek, 2025).
The 2026 honorary chairs are authors and free expression advocates Bess Kalb (Buffalo Fluffalo series) and Tony Weaver, Jr. (Weirdo) and youth honorary chairs Marshall Romero and Azeemah Sadiq.
Banned Books Week is ® American Library Association. Let Books Be tagline and artwork are ©2026 American Library Association.
There are multiple performances including:
Sunday, November 15, 2026 @ 2:00pm
Kean Stage - Bauer Boucher Theatre Center
Union, NJ
Music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison
