Description

Join VCU Libraries in celebrating the freedom to read. During Banned Books Week, we come together to support freedom of expression and equitable access to information for all, and especially to acknowledge books and other materials that have been banned or challenged, including recent trends in demands for the removal of public and school library materials largely written by and about people of color and LGBTQ+ people. 

Lineup: 

Whiteboard Engagement
James Branch Cabell Lobby

Share your thoughts and questions about banned and challenged books, the First Amendment right to free speech (and to read whatever you want to), books you recommend to friends, and more as we ask for your input on our large public whiteboard in the lobby of Cabell Library, each day between October 2 and 7: Banned Books Week. 

Freedom To Read Pop-Up Library-All Week
(James Branch Cabell and Health Sciences Library)

In celebration of Banned Books Week, a popup library of selected books will be displayed in the Cabell Library and Health Sciences Library lobbies. The popup includes titles that have been banned or challenged as well as nonfiction on intellectual freedom and censorship.  While supplies last, go on a blind date with a banned book.

Ink & Rebellion: The Evolution of Censorship in Comics
Monday, October 2 - ongoing.
James Branch Cabell Library, 4th Floor

This exhibit is on the 4th floor of James Branch Cabell Library. Come view the Special Collections & Archives exhibit on censorship in comics and graphic novels.  The exhibit will feature pre-code comics leading up to the establishment of the Comics Code Authority in addition to underground comix and graphic novels that have pushed censorship boundaries or have been deemed banned books.

Jurgen Comics Contest
Tues. Oct, 3, 10 a.m.-noon
James Branch Cabell Library Lobby

VCU Libraries are challenging students to create single-page comics that tell a story centered on a specific episode of seizure or censorship of visual art, books, movies, music or performance. A grand prize of $1,000 is being offered. Submissions are due by Oct. 31, 2023. Come by our table in the Cabell Library lobby between 10 a.m. and noon to learn how you can enter the contest, talk with the contest managers, and see an exhibit of past winners' comics.