You may have heard that it’s Banned
Books Week in the US, an organized effort to spread the word about books that have been censored, and a reminder to
treasure our precious intellectual freedom rights to read these books! (Over 540 were banned in the US last
year.)
But the event is an American program, largely sponsored by the ALA. As this
Book
Standard article points out, worldwide efforts to educate readers about banned books is not internationally
coordinated, in part because the cultural differences of countries can influence what is deemed appropriate reading
material in each nation.
The article provides a short list of internationally banned books, which includes: Call of the Wild (Italy
& Yugoslavia, 1929), The Da Vinci Code (Lebanon, 2004) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s
Stone (United Arab Emirates, 2002). See the article for a complete list and learn more about international efforts
to educate readers on their rights at the Index on Censorship,
International PEN and the
IFLA.