Every year, PEN America asks PEN Members and supporters—writers and editors of all backgrounds and genres—to celebrate the freedom to read by reflecting on the banned books that matter most to them. This is our way of taking part in the American Library Association’s annual Banned Books Week, which brings together the entire book community in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular. Check out this year’s Banned Books feature here.

Visit our archive of Banned Books essays here.


Jennifer Camper is a graphic and comics artist. She has published two books of comic art and her works have been seen in A Century of Women Cartoonists, The Great Women Cartoonists, and Boy Trouble. She is the editor of Juicy Mother, an anthology of queer comics, and is the founder of QUEERS & COMICS Conference.