September Organization of the Month: Banned Books Week Coalition

Cosimo is celebrating banned books this September with our Organization of the Month, The Banned Books Week Coalition!

Banned Books Week happens once a year and celebrates the freedom to read. The week is sponsored by a host of great organizations dedicated to free expression, including: American Booksellers Association, American Library Association, The Authors Guild, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Freedom to Read Foundation, Index on Censorship, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Council of Teachers of English, PEN America, and many more.

According to the Banned Books website, limiting access to controversial titles is not the answer for tough questions or broaching controversial topics. Many titles that continue to be removed from shelves, taken away from schools, or eliminated from classroom reading lists include stories about or subjects on LGBTQ, explicit content, witchcraft, swearing, suicide, and much more.

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. The 2018 celebration will be held September 23 - September 29. To find an event near you, please visit the Banned Books website.

COSIMO ATTENDS NAIBA CONFERENCE: BOOKS, INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES AND MUCH MORE

Cosimo table at NAIBA conference

"People don't read anymore. The printed book will be dead!" Well, these statements have been made for many years now, but the facts seem to tell otherwise. According to Nielsen Book Scan, total units of print books in the U.S. sold to outlets reporting to Nielsen, were 635 million in 2014, an increase of 2.4% over 2013 and the best numbers since 2010.

"Bookstores are disappearing, especially the independents." That too seems not to be the case - although I have a hard time finding one in my Manhattan neighborhood -.  A New York Times article earlier this year stated that:  

"...in the U.S. independent bookstores have rebounded strongly from the financial crisis, increasing their numbers by 27 percent since 2009. ......The American Booksellers Association's chief executive, Oren Teicher, said American indie bookshops have filled the vacuum left by big box bookstores like Borders (which went out of business in 2011) and Barnes & Noble (which has closed hundreds of stores). They have also capitalized on a spirit of localism and urban renewal that is coursing through some American cities. “The enthusiasm and optimism is pretty staggering,” Mr. Teicher said. “Despite all the quantum leaps in technology, the fact is nothing beats a physical, bricks-and-mortar store to discover books that you didn’t know about.”

Against this backdrop of revitalized book sales and growing independent bookstores, Cosimo attended this weekend the New Atlantic Book Sellers Association ("NAIBA") Conference in Somerset, New Jersey, a regional trade show that celebrates independent bookselling, Even though....