• Start preparing your Banned Books Week Display Contest entry! (The contest will run during Banned Books Week, October 4–10, 2026.)
• As Am*zon Prime Day approaches, use our Shop Small for a Big Impact campaign assets to encourage customers to support local businesses!
• Take advantage of our new “Start the Season at Your Indie Bookstore” holiday campaign assets.

After several consecutive years of unprecedented book challenges, it is more important than ever to celebrate Banned Books Week.

Show ABA how your store is promoting banned books in your community for a chance to win up to $300!

The bookstore with the best display will win $300, and two runners-up will receive $100 each. (We suggest the winnings be divided among staff who helped create it or used for a staff party.)

Take a photo of your Banned Books Week display and post it to your store’s Instagram. Tag @AmericanBooksellers and @ABFEFreeExpression and use #BannedBooksDisplayContest and #BannedBooksWeek to enter. 

This contest will run October 4–10! You must be an ABA member store to enter.

Am*zon’s next Prime Day sale has been announced for October 6–7.

Take this opportunity to highlight the importance of shopping small with our Shop Small for a Big Impact campaign!

ABA’s Shop Small for a Big Impact campaign is designed to remind readers that indie bookstores offer expert recommendations, carefully curated collections, and unique experiences — things an algorithm just can’t provide.

Visit BookWeb to download the Shop Small for a Big Impact campaign assets as well as suggested language you can use on your store's socials!

• Thursday, September 24 at 3:00 pm ET: AI: What We Know
• Thursday, October 1: Indie Bookstore Day 2027 Exclusives Order and Participation Form Opens
• Thursday, October 1 at 3:00 pm ET: Opting In or Opting Out of AI
• Tuesday, October 6 at 3:00 pm ET: ABA Staff Office Hours
• Wednesday, October 7 at 3:00 pm ET: AI: Trust, Customers, and Community
• Thursday, October 8 at 3:00 pm ET: Featured ShopTalk: Cybersecurity for Booksellers

We’re halfway through the trade show season! ABA appears annually at each summer/fall regional trade show.

Check out these photos from our time at New Voices New Rooms (SIBA and NAIBA) and NEIBA’s Fall Conference and CALIBA’s Fall Fest! 

Next up, we’ll be attending PNBA’s Fall Trade Show, MPIBA’s FallCon, and Heartland Fall Forum (MIBA and GLIBA)! Check your regional show’s schedule to see where you can find us at your show.

Pictured above, left to right: ABA's Member Relations Manager Jenn Foley and Director of Membership Ryan Quinn at NEIBA’s Fall Conference.

Register Now for Show Up and Speak Up!

Join us Thursday, September 24, at 2:00 pm ET for the Show Up, Speak Up: Vote for the Freedom to Read virtual event, a variety show-style telethon in support of free expression and in opposition to book ban legislation. 

Together with authors, librarians, educators, publishers, booksellers, parents, and students we’re going to make our plan to VOTE and then call or email our reps to ensure they’re championing the freedom to read. (Judy Blume and The Daily Show’s Kat Radley have been added to the line-up!)

Register for free at nobookbans.org!

Banned Books Week Honorary Chairs

As a member of the Banned Books Week Coalition, American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE) is thrilled to announce that award-winning authors and free expression advocates Bess Kalb (Buffalo Fluffalo) and Tony Weaver, Jr. (Weirdo), have been named honorary chairs for Banned Books Week 2026 (October 4–10, 2026). They will be joined by youth honorary chairs Marshall Romero and Azeemah Sadiq.

To learn more about the honorary chairs, visit BannedBooksWeek.org/honorary-chairs/.

Advocacy at NEIBA

Last week, ABA’s Director of Free Expression, Advocacy & Public Policy David Grogan, appeared at NEIBA’s Fall Conference on a panel covering some of the most pressing issues facing booksellers right now: ADA website compliance lawsuits, swipe fee reform, and federal bills looking to censor books on race and gender.

Advocacy session panelists pictured below, left to right: David Grogan (American Booksellers for Free Expression, Advocacy, and Public Policy), Kenny Brechner of DDG Booksellers (Farmington, ME), Rebecca Morton of Back Cove Books (Portland, ME), and Kathleen Crowley of Belmont Books (Belmont, MA).