Join us for a Banned Books Week panel discussion featuring former OPL assistant library director Verda Bialac, author Marilyn Coffey, UNO professor Dr. Charles Johanningsmeier, author and Omaha World-Herald columnist Rainbow Rowell, and author and UNL professor Timothy Schaffert. The panel will be moderated by moderator Sally Deskins, blogger of "Les Femmes Folles: Celebrating Women in Art." Panel members will share their perspectives and answer questions about controversial book challenges and censorship. They will also answer questions from participants.

Banned Books Week runs Sept.30-Oct. 6 and celebrates the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries.

Banned Books Week and 140th Anniversary celebration