Lake County Public Library

Your generous donation helps LCPL bring their mission of building community, fostering life-long learning, and providing equal access to information by helping fund our flagship event; Banned Books Week Author Talk.

History of Banned Books Week at LCPL

Banned Books Week is an initiative started by the American Library Association in 1982 as a response to a surge in the number of books being challenged to be taken off the shelves in libraries, bookstores, and schools. The movement brings together the entire book community in shared support of intellectual & literary freedom.

As these values align with LCPL's mission, in 2022, director Brena Smith initiated an effort to bring authors to Leadville. These community focused events celebrate diversity of voices in literature and bringing residents of all ages and backgrounds out to share their passion for their freedom to read what they choose.

During our first year, 2022, we hosted NY Times Bestselling author, William C. Morris Award finalist,  Nic Stone, author of Dear Martin. In 2023 we hosted NY Times Bestselling and award winning author, Free Speech Defender Award Winner, and Emmy nominee George Johnson author of All Boys Aren't Blue. This year, 2024, we hosted NY Times Bestselling author & Tomás Rivera Award winner Erika L. Sánchez, author of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter which has been lauded one of the best YA books of all time and is currently in production on a movie with producer America Ferrera.

Each year the event has grown (this year we had over 175 people in attendance), proving the need and desire our community has for inclusive cultural experiences, education about our rights, and a shared love of reading.

This event takes months of planning and requires funding that the LCPL general operating budget cannot provide. Your gift is essential to us being able to continue to offer this free & valuable event to the Lake County community. Please donate today!

What costs are associated with hosting this event?

• Venue space rental - the event has become so popular we have exceeded the occupancy available within the library walls! We have an awesome community partner for the venue, but it still requires funds.
• Speaker fees - Unfortunately, authors don't travel around speaking for free (yes, even to public libraries). This also includes any fees for the author to travel to our community.
• Advertising - Getting the word out is important! While we spend a lot of our focus on low cost opportunities like social media and newsletters, we also take out newspaper ads and radio ads in english & Spanish to ensure that all people, regardless of their access to internet or social media have an opportunity to attend.
• Translation services - LCPL is committed to finding avenues to support language justice in our community. We have a diverse population here and not every speaks english, or speaks it at a level they are comfortable with. Our event always has certified translation services to include as many members of our community as possible. 
• Food - LCPL realizes that food access is not equitable in all areas of our community. With our event happening at dinner time, we feel it is important to offer a free meal to our attendees, to remove that barrier from attendance. The meal as well also fosters the spirit of community as we all eat together prior to the author taking the stage.
• Books - we make it a mission to order a supply of both english and Spanish versions of our featured author's book to hand out to our community for free in the months leading up to the event. We encourage those who stop by the library to get a free copy (while they last) to pay it forward to friend or neighbor after they're done reading it. By the time our event comes around, the books have circulated through our community time and time again.