By Tamryn Spruill
It’s Banned Book Week 2026, and we’re throwing our energy behind the American Library Association’s (or the ALA’s) efforts to protect titles and counter censorship.
My recent conversations with independent bookstore owners, a banned book list from Bookshop.org, and the ALA’s Unite Against Book Bans initiative have inspired me to share accumulated suggestions to challenge the relentless attempts to ban books, and therefore, knowledge. Why do people want to limit knowledge, you ask? Because ignorant people are easier to subjugate and control. Many of the books being banned are by authors from historically marginalized groups. The effect of banning these books is erasure—of underrepresented stories. Representation matters. Racists, homophobes, misogynists, and fascists, thus, want to suppress stories from which groups that they hate may derive benefit and belonging.
Here are some of the ways that lovers of literary liberties can counter the deranged attacks on knowledge, ideas, and basic common sense:
Follow the ALA’s @UniteAgainstBookBans on social media.
Share their content as well as your own views or experiences with book bans. Use hashtag #UniteAgainstBookBans on social media. The ALA has made it easy for everyday folks to make a difference. Check out the resources provided in their TOOLKIT, including a variety of social media assets.
Buy a banned (or challenged) book through your local bookseller or via Bookshop.org.
Book bans impact not just readers, but booksellers, authors, teachers, and more. Bookshop.org financially supports authors and indie booksellers alike with commissions on sales through their platform. Through October 18, 2026, Bookshop.org is offering 15% off select banned or challenged titles.
Buy banned books here: https://bookshop.org/lists/unite-against-book-bans.
Use the following promo code at checkout: BBW26.
Report censorship to the ALA.
Librarians rock. They’ve made it super easy for us to report, censorship, too.
Just fill out this REPORT CENSORSHIP FORM. That’s it!
Request the books you want to read yourself or make accessible for others to read.
Call or email libraries and bookstores to request the books you want to see on their shelves, whether for yourself or others. If you have a strong connection with a now-banned or -challenged title, and you think other readers might benefit from the author’s literary gem, request it. Fascist-minded folks are going to great lengths to get books banned that they haven’t even read, save for a few sentences taken out of context. As a counterpoint to these attacks, I encourage you to ask libraries and bookstores to stock specific titles—especially those you know to deepen knowledge or understanding, of self and others. Call or email a bookstore or library anywhere in the country and request a title. Places with the most severe book bans, like Florida and Utah, would be great places to start.
Make some noise.
If book banning is happening where you live, express your opposition. Organize a petition, write a letter to an elected official, or compose an op-ed for your local newspaper.
The ALA’s TOOLKIT—with all kinds of templates and tips—once again saves the day.