Dates to Remember

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    Banned Book Week

    Banned Book Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, or early October, it spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. It 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.

    The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted for removal or restriction in libraries and schools. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.

     

    Teen Read Week

    Teen Read Week™ is a national adolescent literacy initiative created in 1998 that takes place every October during Columbus Week. Its purpose is to encourage teens to be regular readers and library users. As you may know, the YALSA board has decided to re-envision TTW and TRW and create a larger advocacy/awareness campaign to promote the importance of year-round teen services. In March 2017, a discussion between YALSA's board members resulted in board document #32 at Annual 2017, which discussed the re-envisioning of TTW and TRW. As a result, a taskforce will be put together to work on proposing ideas for the new awareness campaign. Our YALSA Wiki Teen Read Week page has lots of resources and ideas for celebrating Teen Tech Week!

     

    National Writing Month

    National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo is a month-long creative writing challenge that takes place every November. During the month participants from all over the world are challenged to write a 50,000 word first draft of a novel. There is no charge to take part in the challenge, although it is all run by a not for profit organization and participants have the option to donate to the cause and purchase official NaNoWriMo merchandise, all profits from which are funnelled back into the program. The organization relies on these donations to keep participation free of charge and pay for things such as web hosting, resources and classroom kits. Once participants have signed up they receive access to support and encouragement to help them hit their writing goals; this includes access to a range of articles and tools to assist in planning their novel, the option to join a local group of writers and meet up for in-person writing events, online forums and facebook groups. Published authors also offer mentorship through articles and pep talks. If you feel that there is a story inside you just waiting to be told and would like to get more involved, visit www.nanowrimo.org for more information or to sign up.