BANNED BOOKS WEEK 2015: September 27-October 3

The Armenian Poetry Project joins the ALA's (American Library Association) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) in promoting awareness of challenges to library materials and celebrating freedom of speech during Banned Books Week.

A challenge is defined when attempts are made to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. As such, they are a threat to freedom of speech and choice.

For more information, check the ALA's link: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/bannedbooksweek.

Thank you for supporting the freedom to THINK.


Lola Koundakjian
Producer and Curator
The Armenian Poetry Project

BANNED BOOKS WEEK 2014: September 21-27

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. 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.

For further information, please visit this link.

It’s Banned Books Week. Celebrating the Freedom to Read: Sept. 22 - 28, 2013.

Banned Books Week is the national book community's annual celebration of the freedom to read. Hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2013 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held from September 22-28. Banned Books Week 2014 will be held September 21-27.

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. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982. For more information on Banned Books Week, click here. According to the American Library Association, there were 464 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2012, and many more go unreported.

The 10 most challenged titles of 2012 were:

Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: Offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group

Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group

Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James.
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit

And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson.
Reasons: Homosexuality, unsuited for age group

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.
Reasons: Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit

Looking for Alaska, by John Green.
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group

Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
Reasons: Unsuited for age group, violence

The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit

Beloved, by Toni Morrison 

Reasons: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read

September 30−October 6, 2012

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of preserving intellectual discourse. 

Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

During this week, hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country will draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events.

The Armenian Poetry Project believes that adults should decide what they wish to read. Their neighbors or governments should not make that decision.

Support freedom of thought
Support literacy and education 
Support peace.


Lola Koundakjian
Producer and curator of the Armenian Poetry Project.

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read

September 24−October 1, 2011

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. 


Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States. From the American Library Association's website. 


The Armenian Poetry Project believes that adults should decide what they wish to read. Their neighbors or governments should not make that decision.

Support freedom of thought and education. 
Support literacy. 
Support freedom and peace.


Lola Koundakjian
Producer and curator of the Armenian Poetry Project

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read

September 25−October 2, 2010 is Banned Books Week. Promoted by the American Library Association every year, it is a movement that brings attention to the fact that even in countries such as the U.S., some communities are challenged with censorship.

In the past APP has helped promote this awareness and we will continue to do so. This year, we will introduce the motto Free People Read Freely ® from the Freedom to Read Foundation. Established 40 years ago, the FRF is a First Amendment legal defense organization affiliated with the American Library Association. 

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read

September 26−October 3, 2009 is banned books week


Preserve your RIGHT to reading and free thought. Read a banned book this week and remember that books may come in all shapes and forms.


Intellectual freedom can exist only where two essential conditions are met: first, that all individuals have the right to hold any belief on any subject and to convey their ideas in any form they deem appropriate; and second, that society makes an equal commitment to the right of unrestricted access to information and ideas regardless of the communication medium used, the content of the work, and the viewpoints of both the author and receiver of information. Freedom to express oneself through a chosen mode of communication, including the Internet, becomes virtually meaningless if access to that information is not protected. Intellectual freedom implies a circle, and that circle is broken if either freedom of expression or access to ideas is stifled.

Banned Books Week

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."
—Harper Lee, "To Kill a Mockingbird"

The American Library Association would like to remind us that many of us live in a world where intellectual freedom does not exist.

Minds lesser than most would like you to believe that for your OWN GOOD, you shouldn't be reading certain books, even if you are 18 or older, and can very easily make up your own mind.

Yes, it's okay to drive, vote, and join the army, but PLEASE don't read that book, it could be dangerous.

The question remains, how and why are these books dangerous and for whom?


Enjoy a banned book this week


Lola Koundakjian
Producer and curator of the Armenian Poetry Project