Join Valencia and community partners for the 2022 celebration of Banned Books Week and First Amendment Day. The observances of Banned Books Week and First Amendment Day are uniquely related due to their focus on free speech and intellectual freedom. The festivities will include a variety of programming geared to inform, entertain, and provide food for thought. Click here to view the schedule of events.
"Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular." - Source Banned Books Week
First Amendment Day is "a day to celebrate the document that allows all Americans – without government interference – to practice a faith or not, speak freely, publish ideas, gather in support or protest, and petition the government for change. It marks the day in 1789 when Congress sent the amendments that became the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights to the states for approval." Source USA Today