ABFE Launches Banned Books Week 2024 Campaign

The American Booksellers Association (ABA) and its free expression initiative, American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE), have launched a new campaign for Banned Books Week 2024 centered on the theme: Liberate Banned Books (#SetBooksFree). 

Resisting book bans is about liberation. It’s about liberation for schools and libraries from the rash of book challenges that has exploded since 2021. It means liberating the more than 4,240 titles that have been challenged since 2021. It entails liberation for literary institutions who carry books that represent marginalized groups, especially books by people of color and LGBTQ+ people that have been disproportionately censored by book bans. And of course, it’s about liberation for independent bookstores, who offer their communities access to diverse literature and for that have been targeted in book ban legislation. Literature and liberation are inseparable.

Liberate Banned Books spans multiple media and formats, including:

• Promotional assets in our Banned Books Week Kits, distributed free to over 700 participating independent bookstores across the country. The kits contain a poster and stickers courtesy of Ingram Content Group, caution tape for banned books displays, buttons in rainbow and red, and bookmarks for stores to give out during Banned Books Week.

• Digital promotional assets for stores, customers, and supporters to use on social media and websites during banned books week.

• T-shirts, hoodies, and tank tops to show your love for literary freedom, in a range of colors and multiple designs.

Banned Books Week 2024 will be held from September 22–September 28. A proud member of the Banned Books Week Coalition, ABFE has offered education, programming, and resources for booksellers and their customers since 1990.

Last year’s “Right to Read Toolkit,” released in time for Banned Books Week 2023, offered a comprehensive guide for booksellers who want to support the right to read in their stores. (This year’s followup to the Toolkit will be announced in the coming weeks.) 

To support ABFE’s banned books advocacy, visit our merch store on Bonfire, post our digital assets, and follow us on Instagram. 

Download a PDF version of this press release here.