The Putnam County Public Library District will present a special screening of the 2025 documentary Banned Together: The Fight Against Censorship on Tuesday, October 7th at 1:00 p.m. at the Granville Branch, in honor of Banned Books Week.
Banned Together takes viewers inside the growing fight over book bans and censorship in schools and libraries. At its center is a group of courageous teens who refuse to remain silent when 97 books are suddenly removed from their school libraries. What begins as a local protest soon sparks a national movement, as these young activists speak out at school board meetings, face personal threats, and join forces with some of the most influential voices advocating for free expression. The film also features powerful reflections from bestselling—and banned—authors including Juno Dawson, Jodi Picoult, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Erika L. Sánchez, and Ellen Hopkins, alongside insights from First Amendment defenders and legal experts such as Congressman Jamie Raskin, PEN America’s Jonathan Friedman, and Deborah Caldwell-Stone of the American Library Association. Together, their voices underscore what’s truly at stake: not only the right to read, but the freedom to think, question, and imagine.
The documentary runs 95 minutes and is unrated. The screening is free and open to the public, and is made possible through public performance rights provided by Kanopy. It will be held at the Granville Branch, 214 S. McCoy Street, Granville, Illinois. For more information, please contact the branch at 815-339-2038.