Over 200 conference attendees read from their favorite banned book at the ALA Annual Conference

Conference attendees and book authors gathered at the Sage-sponsored “Banned Books from the Big Chair” booth in support of the freedom to read at the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2024 Annual Conference, where they were videotaped reading passages from their favorite banned books. Sage has been proud to sponsor this event for more than a decade, along with ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, Unite Against Book Bans, and the Banned Books Week Coalition, as part of a larger effort to champion academic freedom.

Guests in the Big Chair included author and educator, Sonja Cherry-Paul, Nigerian-American illustrator Briana Mukodiri Uchendu, award-winning author Susannah Kennedy, and Miss Black America Gabrielle Wilson. Recordings from the conference will be available during Banned Books Week, September 22-28, on the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom Banned Books Week YouTube channel.

Sage’s guaranteed independence means that the company is free to focus on supporting intellectual freedom for the long term. In addition to the read-out booth, Sage co-sponsored the Downs Intellectual Freedom Award once again and celebrated the 2023 winners at the conference, including the Missouri Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee (MLA IFC), for its educational programming and advocacy work in support of the right to read. MLA IFC provides free workshops covering the history of intellectual freedom, the rights of patrons, and the value of library workers and has engaged in many activities including table talks, media outreach, and more to keep proposed banned books on shelves.

Sage also organizes an annual Banned Books Week webinar that brings together researchers, scholars, and higher-ed faculty to discuss the importance of academic freedom and ways to support the freedom to teach and learn. More information about this year’s webinar is forthcoming. Sage’s Independence with Impact report highlights its ongoing commitment to academic freedom with more information about additional projects.  

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Sage is a global academic publisher of books, journals, and library resources with a growing range of technologies to enable discovery, access, and engagement. Believing that research and education are critical in shaping society, 24-year-old Sara Miller McCune founded Sage in 1965. Today, we are controlled by a group of trustees charged with maintaining our independence and mission indefinitely. 

Our guaranteed independence means we’re free to:

• Do more – supporting an equitable academic future, furthering disciplines that drive social change, and helping social and behavioral science make an impact

• Work together – building lasting relationships, championing diverse perspectives, and co-creating resources to transform teaching and learning

• Think long-term – experimenting, taking risks, and investing in new ideas