The American Library Association (ALA) revealed all the way back in April the theme for this year’s Banned Books Week, happening the first full week of October: “Censorship Is So 1984. Read For Your Rights.” With our current government blatantly seeking to silence its critics (with schoolyard bully tactics), the theme could not be more prescient. The whole tradition of Banned Books Week began in 1982 in response to, you guessed, a huge uptick in books being challenged — the first step in the process to ban them. Methinks the people who bring forth these challenges are the very ones who could benefit the most from reading more books, as opposed to fewer. Now that BBW 2025 is nearly one week away, the ALA announced the celeb who will serve as this year’s honorary chair: George Takei!
Actor-activist George Takei’s next project is on behalf of a longtime passion — the right to read.
The American Library Association announced Monday that the 88-year-old Takei will serve as honorary chair of Banned Books Week, which takes place Oct. 5-11. Libraries and bookstores around the country will highlight books that have been censored, from Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” to Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye.”
“I remember all too well the lack of access to books and media that I needed growing up. First as a child in a barbed-wire prison camp, then as a gay young man in the closet, I felt confused and hungry for understanding about myself and the world around me,” said the “Star Trek” actor, who spent part of his childhood in a Japanese internment camp during World War II.
“Please stand with me in opposing censorship, so that we all can find ourselves — and each other — in books.”
Previous honorary chairs for Banned Books Week, established in 1982, include Ava DuVernay, LeVar Burton and Jason Reynolds.
Takei will share leadership with honorary youth chair Iris Mogus, a first-year student at the University of California, Santa Cruz who has been active for years in anti-banning campaigns.
Many of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024 are the same as when longtime reading advocate LeVar Burton served as honorary chair a few years ago. Quelle surprise, the list heavily features stories by/for/about queer people and people of color. I do believe that racism, homophobia, and book banning and/or burning are the first three badges ultra right wing fascists need to earn to merit full Nazi scout status, so those who weren’t vacuumed away in the rapture this week can get busy with those bigoted tasks. Merde. The small-mindedness, yet outsized arrogance of thinking that something you personally don’t like (or understand) must be completely forbidden for all is just astounding. Like, you may have gleaned from a comment I made here or there, but I’m not particularly a sportsball fan. It’s not my thing. But I’m not out starting a crusade to BAN fill-in-the-blank ball games entirely! Why? Because I’m lazy! Because I recognize that there are all sorts of people and interests in this world. Good grief!
Anyway, much luck to George Takei in his honorary role. It’s quite the inauspicious year for reading — what with a president who doesn’t engage in the activity himself and who likely views books in the lump category of “non-gold interior decor props” — but that’s why Banned Books Week is more necessary than ever. As is reading for our rights!
Photos credit: BLW Clips/Backgrid, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon