What is Book Defenders?
In the last few years, we’ve seen an uptick in banned books across the country, with censorship particularly targeting LGBTQ+ and BIPOC stories. So last year, we updated our beloved Accio Books campaign - which has rallied community members worldwide and empowered them to not only donate over 400,000 books over the past 10+ years, but also help to build libraries across the globe - to reflect the changing world around us.
Book Defenders is all about supporting universal access to books by getting stories into the hands of everyone who needs them. Last year we 500 activists were trained to fight book bans in their communities, we offered a free writing workshop series that trained 300 writers to keep sharing their stories in the face of book censorship, and fan activists donated 1,200 books in 3 countries. This year, we want to do even more!
Visit our Action Hub below to learn how you can get involved and take actions to defend books!
TAKE action: Defend Books!
Donate Books!
We are book defenders because we believe that everyone has the right to access the knowledge, joy, and power that books — especially diverse books! — can give us.
Find a local community center, classroom, library, etc. in your community that needs books and donate your pre-loved books to them!
If you want a suggestion for where to send books, send them to our partners at Little Free Contentious Library: Aileen Loy, P.O. Box 170111, Atlanta, GA 31117
Don’t forget to submit your points for a chance to win a special Book Defender Award!
Support Libraries!
Libraries are facing a lot of heat right now. When librarians are courageous and set up diverse and banned book displays in spite of censorship attacks, the least we can do is show our thanks!
In collaboration with Strongly Worded Letters, we’ve created this simple step-by-step guide for how to voice your support to your library board.
When you take this action, don’t forget to submit your points for a chance to win a special Book Defender Award!
Sign Petition!
In early 2021, the Leander Independent School District, in Austin, Texas reviewed all book complaints and compiled a final list of books to be removed from classroom library selection.
Our partners at the Vandegrift High School Banned Book Club have been working their way through the list and have provided student perspectives to the governance committee along the way, but there have been no adjustments to the list.
They’re asking us to sign this petition asking for student representation on the reconsideration committee. When you sign, don’t forget to submit your points for a chance to win a special Book Defender Award!
Attend a Freedom to Read Summit | Tulsa
Our partners at PEN America are excited to announce their first Freedom to Read Community Summit in Tulsa for all ages this September leading up to Banned Books Week 2023! In this convening, community members will be welcome to engage in a series of workshops and discussions on the nationwide book-banning crisis and the intolerance, exclusion, and censorship undergirding it.
Send Postcards!
One effective way to fight book bans is to let your voice be heard at the local level. You can write to your school board and local officials to tell them how you feel about the right to read.
In collaboration with We Need Diverse Books, we’re promoting their postcard advocacy tool!
When you send a postcard, don’t forget to submit your points for a chance to win a special Book Defender Award!
Host a Party!
Historically, hosting an event – whether it be a huge charity concert or a small house party – has been a popular way for someone to advocate for causes they care about, and get other people involved too!
During Book Defenders, we’re encouraging people to give aid to banned books (...BANNED AID, get it?) by hosting a party, and we have some instructions to get you started!
When you take an action from the toolkit, don’t forget to submit your points for a chance to win a special Book Defender Award!
Read Our Toolkit!
Our all-in-one toolkit will teach you how to become a book defender, from helping you donate banned books to guiding you in the process of hosting a banned books party!
When you take an action from the toolkit, don’t forget to submit your points for a chance to win a special Book Defender Award!
Write A Story of You!
Our partners at Little Free Contentious Library have provided the public with over 3,100 banned books, and they are currently working on getting a bookmobile up and running! They are encouraging kids and adults from all different communities to send in “A Story of Me”-- short stories, plays, poems, long fiction, essays or even art pieces expressing the writer's unique POV, voice, and story. Manuscripts can be handwritten, typed, illustrated, or whatever form becomes most interesting. Each story will be archived into the bookmobile’s rare manuscripts department.
Mail your stories to: Aileen Loy, P.O. Box 170111, Atlanta, GA 31117
Or email them to: aileen@getcontentious.com
Win a book defender award!
There are so many creative and inspiring ways that fan activists take action in support of education and libraries during our Book Defenders campaign, and we want to honor them all. When you take one of the actions above, make sure to submit your points for the chance to earn a special Book Defender Award! We’ll be hosting an Official Book Defenders Award Ceremony in mid-October to celebrate all the winners! More info soon.
Here's the list of awards you can win:
Top Book Defender: individual person or chapter who earns the most points!
Overachiever: individual person or chapter who donates the most banned books!
Best Dressed (Book): individual person or chapter who donates the prettiest book(s)!
Best Dressed (Defender): individual person or chapter who is best dressed while making a book donation!
Most Traveled: individual person or chapter who donates books to the most amount of places!
Coziest: individual person or chapter who donates a book with the highest number of coffee shop AUs on Archive of Our Own!
Most Heartwarming: individual person or chapter who includes the cutest special note inside their book for the next recipient!
The Literary Adventurer: individual person or chapter who donates the most number of diverse books!
The Master of Macabre: individual person or chapter who donates the most horror/thriller books!
The Enchanting Romantic: individual person or chapter who donates the most romance books!
Support book defenders!
Join Our Book Club!
There’s one thing for sure about Fandom Forward: we love a good book. Well, okay, we love a lot of good books! But most of all? We love sharing those things with all of you.
A one-time donation of $35 (or more!) gains you a lifetime membership to our Book Club!
During Book Defenders, we’re reading and discussing one of our favorite banned books: Heartstopper by Alice Oseman!
Buy Books!
Show the authors of banned books that we will continue to support them no matter what! Check out our suggested list on Bookshop, a website that supports local, independent bookstores with every online purchase.
Get Good News!
The Goodnewspaper is a physical newspaper, released monthly, fighting against a world full of hate by celebrating the people, ideas, and movements that are changing the world.
With our referral like, you can get your own copy of the Goodnewspaper, support Fandom Forward, and join in Good Good Good’s online community, the Neighborhood.