In celebration of Freedom to Read Week (February 19-25), we’ve created a featured collection of censored and banned titles for you to explore.

Included in the collection are several recent titles including George, Asha’s Mums, and Tendencies which continue to be challenged, restricted or banned from schools for LGBTQ2S+ content. But, censorship is hardly new. William Tyndale’s English translation of the New Testament was ordered burned in 1525 by Church authorities who determined the Bible should only be available in Latin. King James I of England banned Sir Walter Raleigh’s work The History of the World for “being too saucy in censuring princes.”

Freedom to Read Week “is organized by the Book and Periodical Council’s Freedom of Expression Committee, a group committed to promoting intellectual freedom in Canada. Since 1978, the committee has worked with educators, librarians, publishers, writers, booksellers, advocacy groups and the community at large to provide information that addresses censorship and book and magazine challenges in Canada.” (Book and Periodical Council, 2023).