Banned Books Week Celebration
Banned Books Week was started in 1982 by the American Library Association as a way to bring attention to censorship. During this week, which usually occurs the last week of September or the first week of October, events take place around the country highlighting intellectual freedom and the consequences that occur when censorship takes place. Banned Books Week brings together libraries, publishers, authors, and schools to celebrate the freedom to read.
At Lake County Public Library, we celebrate by inviting nationally and internationally known authors who have experienced their works being banned. This event has grown rapidly since our inaugural event with Nic Stone in 2022 and we are committed to continuing this event.
Announcing our 2026 Guest Author: Gabby Rivera!
Gabby Rivera grew up with superheroes on the block. Her mom, aunties, and the women in her community were the strongest people she knew: seamstresses and paramedics who’d sit around the dining table and tell wild tales about their lives in the Bronx. They taught her how to find her strength—in softness, gentleness, and humor. When Marvel Comics asked Gabby to write the story of America Chavez, their first queer Latina superhero, she proved that heroes could be kind and vulnerable, too. The first Latina to ever write for Marvel Comics, Gabby is funny, insightful, authentic, and inspires us all to live a life that is joyfully open and revolutionary. Gabby Rivera is a Bronx-born queer Puerto Rican babe on a mission to create the wildest, most fun stories ever. Gabby is the first Latina ever to write for Marvel comics, penning the solo series AMERICA about America Chavez, a portal-punching queer Latina powerhouse.
Gabby’s critically acclaimed debut novel Juliet Takes a Breath was called “f*cking outstanding” by Roxane Gay and was re-published by Penguin Random House in 2019. Mic named it one of the 25 essential books to read for Women’s History Month, and Latina magazine called it the “dopest LGBTQA YA book ever.”
Gabby presented before the United Nations in 2020 as an invited speaker to their Unstereotyping Alliance Conference, and she has collaborated with groups such as the Ford Motor Company, the Makers Women’s Conference and Somos Familia, to uplift joyful storytelling and the magic of queer diasporicans everywhere.
In 2022, Gabby became a Sundance Screenwriters Fellow and received an Advancing Justice Award from Catalyst California, alongside activist Dolores Huerta and politician Sheila Kuehl. She currently resides on the West Coast and hosts Joy Uprising, a podcast that brings together her favorite revolutionary humans to honor joy in a chaotic world.
Mark your calendars now for Thursday, October 8th and join us for an incredible author talk at Freight! Doors open at 5:30pm. Community dinner will be provided before the talk begins at 6:30pm.
Free copies of Juliet Takes A Breath will be available (in both English and Spanish) at the library soon. Stay tuned for updates!
2025: Jason Reynolds
Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of many award-winning books, including Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks, All American Boys (with Brendan Kiely), Long Way Down, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (with Ibram X. Kendi), Stuntboy, in the Meantime (illustrated by Raúl the Third), and Ain’t Burned All the Bright (with artwork by Jason Griffin). The recipient of a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, an NAACP Image Award, and multiple Coretta Scott King honors, Reynolds is also the 2020-2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. He has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America, and various media outlets. He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program and lives in Washington, DC.
2024: Erika Sanchez
Erika L. Sánchez is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. Her debut poetry collection, Lessons on Expulsion, was a finalist for the PEN America Open Book Award. Her debut young adult novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, was a New York Times bestseller, National Book Award finalist, and Tomás Rivera Award winner. Time has recognized it as one of the best YA novels of all time. It is now being made into a film directed by America Ferrera. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter has also been adapted to the theater at Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago and Seattle Rep Theater. Most recently, Sánchez published a critically acclaimed memoir-in-essays titled Crying in the Bathroom with Viking Books. It won the Chicago Review of Books Nonfiction award. Sánchez was a Fulbright Scholar, a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent fellow from the Poetry Foundation, a Princeton Arts Fellow, a recipient of the 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library Foundation, and a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. She lives in Chicago with her family.
2023: George M. Johnson
George M. Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of All Boys Aren’t Blue and We Are Not Broken. They are one of the 2022 TIME100 Next, TIME‘s annual list of rising stars, as well as one of Out’s 100 Most Influential LGBTQ People. Their debut memoir All Boys Aren't Blue has been optioned for television by Gabrielle Union and Sony TV.
2022: Nic Stone
Nic Stone is a critically acclaimed author of young adult fiction whose work celebrates and uplifts diverse voices. Her debut novel Dear Martin was a #1 New York Times bestseller loosely based on a series of true events involving the shooting deaths of unarmed African American teenagers. Its powerful sequel Dear Justyce was chosen as an NPR Best Book of the Year. Stone is also the author of Odd One Out, Jackpot, Clean Getaway, and the Shuri novel series with Marvel Comics. She is an Atlanta native and graduate of Spelman college.
