With book bans in public schools rising to levels unseen since the McCarthy era Red Scare of the 1950s, the Eleanor Roosevelt Banned Book Awards ceremony in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. will be presented jointly with PEN America. Author Jennifer Finney Boylan, PEN America’s president, will be the keynote speaker.
The Eleanor Roosevelt Awards honor individuals who embrace her call to build a better world through humanitarian efforts in education, advocacy, social justice, and civil and human rights. The ceremony will celebrate authors who have championed intellectual freedom and the fight against censorship during Banned Books Week 2025, an annual event that highlights the freedom to read and the censorship of books in libraries and schools.
Ten honorees include best-selling author Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale), who will receive the Eleanor Roosevelt Lifetime Achievement Award.
The evening will be hosted and moderated by Hillarie Burton Morgan.
Learn more about Eleanor Roosevelt’s passion for the freedom to read >>