Grab your favorite banned or challenge book and help us celebrate the freedom during Banned Books Week, which takes place from Oct. 5 through Oct. 11 this year. We’ll have a read-in, programs highlighting the impact of censorship and displays. Plus, you can stop by your favorite neighborhood library and pick up a “Read What You Want” sticker to show your support for free-access reading all year long.
Launched in 1982 by the American Library Association, Banned Books Week highlights the value of free and open access to information. In recent years, as you likely know, there has been an unprecedented rise in efforts to challenge and ban books in school and public libraries. A new PEN America report, released today, finds “disturbing normalization” of book bans in public schools, with nearly 23,000 cases of book bans across 45 states and 451 school districts since 2021.
During Banned Books Week, the Library will release an update on Books Unbanned (www.spl.org/BooksUnbanned), which allows young people across the U.S. ages 13 to 26 to access the Library’s collection of e-books and e-audiobooks.
All Library events are free and open to the public. Unless noted, registration is not required.
Library programs celebrating Banned Books Week
Banned Books Week Read-In. Sunday, October 5, From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Green Lake Branch. Join us at the beautiful and historic Green Lake Branch, which reopened in October 2024 after a lengthy renovation, to read banned and challenged books in community with fellow readers. Bring your own book to read or share with others, or select a book provided by librarians and learn about how to fight censorship.
The Future of Libraries with Lillian Dabney, Tom Fay and Dr. Audrey Whitty. Sunday, October 12, from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 – Microsoft Auditorium. In a post-digital era, libraries face the dual challenge of expanding access through emerging technologies while safeguarding censorship. Join Folio librarian Lillian Dabney, Executive Director Chief Librarian of the Seattle Public Library Tom Fay, and Director of the National Library of Ireland Dr. Audrey Whitty, for a conversation on the future of libraries in a rapidly changing world. Registration is required.
Book Banning: What’s the Story? Sunday, October 19, From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Central Library, Level 4 – Room 1. Join us for a panel discussion about this year’s Banned Books Week theme with panelists Rena Priest, an enrolled member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation and former Washington State Poet Laureate; American Book Award-winning novelist Nancy Rawles (“My Jim”), and Anna Bálint, editor of the anthology “Take a Stand: Art Against Hate.”
More October author and community events
Nuestra Euforia / Our Euphoria presentation. Saturday, Oct. 4, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Join artist in residence Vaquero Azul for a dance performance from LGBTQ2IA+ Folklorico Dance Group Danza Monarcas, featuring garments created by the artist. Vaquero Azul is Otomí, Maya and Taíno, Dos Espiritus/Two-Spirit, Mesoamerican illustrator and sewist. This program will be conducted in English and Spanish.
Chi-ming Yang, author of Octavia Butler: H Is for Horse. Friday, Oct. 10, from 7 to 8:15 p.m. Elliott Bay Books. An homage to the childhood genius of the legendary Black science fiction writer, Yang’s “Octavia Butler Hi Is for Horse” brings to view a selection of Butler’s unpublished writings and drawings, and traces her fascination with human-alien symbiosis to her early empathy with horses and other marginalized creatures. Registration is required.
Daniel H. Wilson discusses “Hole in the Sky.” Thursday, Oct. 16, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Daniel H. Wilson discusses “Hole in the Sky,” a gripping thriller — and Native American first contact story — from the New York Times bestselling author of “Robopocalypse.” Co-presented by Clarion West and Third Place Books. Registration is required.
“Nuestra Euforia/Our Euphoria” Exhibit. Saturday, Oct. 18 through Jan. 10, 2026. Central Library, Level 8 Gallery. Curated by artist in residence Vaquero Azul, this exhibit features the artwork of local Trans and gender non-conforming artists, photography of local cultural bearers and icons, and a Trans Pride Ofrenda, an altar honoring Trans, Two-Spirit, and gender expansive relatives. This exhibit is in English and Spanish.
Cory Doctorow discusses “Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It,” Wednesday, Oct. 22, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Join Doctorow (“Enshittification”), Ed Zitron (“Better Offline”) and moderator Whitney Beltrán for a discussion of how reckless tech policy created an enshittogenic environment that allowed the worst people in our most structurally important corporations to turn them into vast, remorseless extraction machines. Registration is required.
One City. Three Perspectives. Countless Stories. Sunday, Oct. 26, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Seattle Times history columnist Jean Sherrard will moderate a conversation about the stories we choose to tell about Seattle Panelists include HistoryLink.org Executive Director Jennifer Ott (“Where the City Meets the Sound “), Karen Treiger (“Standing on the Crack: Legacy of Five Jewish Families from Seattle’s Gilded Age”), and Thomas Kohnstamm (“Supersonic”). Registration is required.
Seattle vs. Highways: Special Live Taping with KUOW. Monday, October 27, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Join Ian Coss, host of the Peabody Award–winning podcast “The Big Dig,” and KUOW’s Josh McNichols, host of the “Booming” podcast, for a special KUOW live taping. Along with special guests, they’ll look at the legacy of highways that once divided communities, and Seattle’s efforts to confront these challenges and repair the harms of the past. Registration is required.
Clay Vermulm & Tamara Sellman discuss “Rain Shadows” in conversation with Neena Viel. Tuesday, Oct. 28, from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Dive into local horror with authors Clay Vermulm and Tamara Sellman and their podcast-turned-book “Rain Shadows: Dark Tales from Washington State.”
Guest Curator Amy Hirayama presents “Perfect Pairings.” Wednesday, Oct. 29 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Central Library, Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. The second event in Hirayama’s series “Serious Play” invites surprising collaborative pairs to share their secrets about connection across disciplines, learning from each other, and flow and conflict within collaboration.