Banned Books Week starts this Sunday and runs through October 1, which means you still have time to plan your Banned Books Week event! Celebrate the freedom to read and this year’s theme of diversity with CBLDF resources, including the CBLDF Comics Connector!
The CBLDF Comics Connector is a free a resource that lists comics creators and industry professionals who are able to provide lectures and workshops for schools and libraries. The CBLDF Comics Connector is organized by country, followed by state or province, and entries in each state are alphabetical by creator’s last name. Currently, the CBLDF Comics Connector includes dozens of creators from two dozen US states and Canadian provinces. Odds are good you’ll be able to find someone who will participate in your Banned Books Week events and beyond!
Check out the CBLDF Comics Connector here. If you are a creator or industry professional who would like to be listed in the CBLDF Comics Connector, please fill out this Google Form, and we’ll add you to the list! Educators and librarians, if you have suggestions to improve this resource, please contact us at info@cbldf.org.
This year, Banned Books Week celebrates diversity. According to ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, more than half of all banned books are by authors of color, or contain events and issues concerning diverse communities. Why are so many diverse books banned? Banned Books Week is a great opportunity to engage your community in this discussion!
If you are hosting an event or Banned Books Week display, let us know about it! Register your event with Banned Books Week at http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/events and send an email to betsy.gomez@cbldf.org.
As you’re planning your events or developing your library and classroom curricula, be sure to check out these other valuable CBLDF resources:
- CBLDF Banned Books Week Handbook
- Raising A Reader: How Comics & Graphic Novels Can Help Your Kids Love to Read!
- Using Graphic Novels in Education
- Adding Graphic Novels to Your Library or Classroom Collection
- CBLDF Discussion Guides
- CBLDF Banned Comics Case Studies
- Comic Book Club Handbook
- Manga Book Club Handbook
- CBLDF Presents: Manga
- Working With Libraries: A Handbook For Comics Creators
- Posters, shelf talkers, and more…
CBLDF is an official sponsor of Banned Books Week. Banned Books Week is also sponsored by American Booksellers for Free Expression, American Library Association, Association of American Publishers, Association of American University Presses, The Authors Guild, Dramatists Legal Defense Fund, Freedom to Read Foundation, National Council for Teachers of English, and People for the American Way Foundation. Contributors include American Society of Journalists and Authors, National Coalition Against Censorship, PEN America, and Project Censored. Banned Books Week is endorsed by the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress.
CBLDF’s education program is made possible with the support of the Gaiman Foundation and CBLDF’s Corporate Members — ABRAMS, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, BOOM! Studios, comiXology, DCBS, Diamond Comic Distributors, Dark Horse Comics, DC Entertainment, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Half Price Books, Oni Press, Penguin Random House, ReedPop, TFAW.com, Scholastic, SPX, Valiant, the Will & Ann Eisner Family Foundation — and members like you. Thank you!
Help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work by visiting the Rewards Zone, making a donation, or becoming a member of CBLDF!