Handing out copies of books banned by right-wing censorship efforts, the PRH ‘Banned Wagon’ is in its third tour of duty.

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

See also: PEN America’s Censorship Report: ‘A Disturbing Normalization of Book Bans’

Banned Books Week

Our international Publishing Perspectives readers are familiar with the “Banned Wagon,” a “bookmobile”-style van that Penguin Random House sends to various parts of the United States to offer copies of banned books to citizens during the Banned Books Week program (October 5 to 11) from the American Libraries Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.

This year, the third activation of the Banned Wagon—with its new orange-and-gray livery and signage—has been scheduled to hit these as some of its stops during this week’s censorship awareness in the United States:

• West End Neighborhood Library: October 5 | 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., 2301 L St. NW, Washington, DC

• Solid State Books: October 8 | 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., 600 H St. NE, Washington, DC

• Northeast Regional Library: October 10 | 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 2228 Cottman Ave, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• Parkway Central Library: October 11 | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Featured books on the Banned Wagon this time are:

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
• This Is Your Time by Ruby Bridges
• My Two Border Towns by David Bowles, illustrated by Erika Meza
• Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, illustrated by Vashti Harrison
• The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
• The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
• Colonization and the Wampanoag Story by Linda Coombs
• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
• Change Sings by Amanda Gorman, illustrated by Loren Long
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones and edited by Caitlin Roper, Ilene Silverman, and Jake Silverstein
• I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
• Families, Families, Families! by Suzanne Lang and Max Lang
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• The Rainbow Parade by Emily Neilson
• 1984 by George Orwell
• Born Ready by Jodie Patterson, illustrated by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow
• All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold, illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman
• I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• Born Behind Bars by Padma Venkatraman
• On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
• The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Here is the Banned Wagon tour site, this year with the Save Our Stories theme prominent and listing details on the vehicle’s itinerary, the books involved, and resources for those interested in the United States’ ongoing siege of censorship. (More on this is in PEN America’s new report, which we covered on October 2.)

Malaviya: ‘A Free and Open Exchange of Ideas’

An invitational kickoff dinner in Washington DC, the “Save Our Stories Supper,” was held on Monday night (October 5) at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, a start to Banned Books Week and a chance to come together on the intent and mission of the Banned Wagon—which clearly needs to be active more than during the high points of censorship resistance in the States.

Penguin Random House has led the way in many of the most visible and effective stances taken against literary censorship in the United States, often being the lead or sole publisher spearheading a litigation effort and tirelessly working with the Association of American Publishers (AAP), fellow publishing houses, and associated organizations to mount an effective resistance to these most recent years of surging censorship.

Nihar Malaviya, Penguin Random House’s worldwide CEO—and a publishing executive who is outspoken in his commitment to fighting censorship—has spoken quite movingly to Publishing Perspectives about his boyhood experiences in library access to books and the essential value with which he credits these youthful encounters with literature.

This week, he has issued a statement to his international staff and to those working on the Banned Wagon project, saying in part:

“Here’s what I know: Penguin Random House will always stand firmly for free expression and continue to champion a free and open exchange of ideas.

“Every student should have the opportunity to have access to a wide range of books that build empathy, spark connection, and expand perspectives—just as the books I read at my high school library helped broaden my worldview and shape my thinking. Not every book is for everyone, and that’s why we trust expert librarians and teachers to select age-appropriate books for their communities, a role they have fulfilled successfully for decades.

“Although much work remains, this year has brought meaningful progress. Together with a broad coalition, we helped pass Freedom to Read legislation in seven states, creating new protections for librarians, educators, and readers, with more advocacy underway. In August, a federal court in Florida ruled in favor of the First Amendment, restoring access to hundreds of banned titles in a major win for publishers, authors, educators, students, and parents.

“None of this happens without persistent effort from our teams and partners.”

And during the kickoff evening in Washington, historian Ibram X. Kendi told the assembly, “To ban books is to ban revolutions, societal and internal. To defend banned books is to defend revolutions. To defend revolutions is to defend what brought us the human rights that are frankly slipping away. And there may be no more precious human right than the right to revolutionize ourselves as human beings through the power of the book.”

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More from Publishing Perspectives on book bannings is here, more on censorship in the broader context is here, more on the freedom to publish and freedom of expression is here, more on the work of Penguin Random House is here, and more on the United States book publishing market is here.

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