Banned Books Week is an annual series of events dedicated to celebrating the freedom to read and raising awareness about the harms of censorship. Banned Book events took place this past week, Oct. 5 – 11, 2025, led this year by the Honorary Chair, George Takei, author, actor and activist, who visited Bucknell just last year. 

The week-long event shines a spotlight specifically on banned and censored literature, from classics like “The Catcher in the Rye” to more contemporary titles that have been challenged, restricted or completely removed from schools and libraries across the country. The week is significant because it is a shared effort to ensure that diverse viewpoints and unique ideas remain available to all who wish to read them. Banned Books Week is an attempt to uphold the democratic principles that every individual has the right to decide for themselves what to read and that voices should not be silenced.

This year, the Bucknell Literary Studies program, in collaboration with the Bertrand Library, Bucknell University Press and Mondragon Books, put together several events to celebrate and promote Banned Books Week both on campus and in downtown Lewisburg.

On Monday, Oct. 6, Bucknell students, faculty and staff signed up to read passages from both banned and challenged books for an “On Campus Banned Books Read Out” under the Academic West pavilion, complemented by cookies and coffee. 

On Tuesday, Literary Studies Professor Elena Machado hosted “Banned Book Jeopardy!” in the Hildreth-Mirza Great Room. The event offered free books as prizes, courtesy of Mondragon Books.

On Wednesday morning, the Literary Studies department offered a discussion with Young Adult Literature author Jordan Sonnenblick, “Banned Books: An Author’s View.” The talk was moderated by Literary Studies Professor Virginia Zimmerman and took place in the Bertrand Library Traditional Reading Room.

Thursday, Oct. 9, marked Bucknell’s “Day of Action” and its final day of Banned Book events. Students were encouraged to visit Bertrand Library to learn more about fighting censorship locally and in their hometowns. At the same time, students from Bucknell’s own Banned Books class, ENLS 311, shared their class presentations “on topics related to banned books and fighting censorship” also located in Bertrand Library. Lastly, Mondragon Books in downtown Lewisburg hosted its own Banned Books Read Out, inviting members of the Lewisburg and Bucknell communities to read passages from banned books in the fight against censorship. Participants were encouraged to dress in “book drag” as their favorite banned or challenged book for the event.