April 16, 2026
On Friday, April 24, 2026, McIntosh Memorial Library of Viroqua will host “Books UnBanned: Freedom to Read”, an event focused on intellectual freedom, book censorship, and the power of storytelling at the Viroqua Area High School Gymnasium and the Westby Area Performing Arts Center.
The event will feature acclaimed authors Lois Lowry and Angie Thomas, representatives from the national Books UnBanned Campaign, student advocacy presentations, and a documentary film screening addressing the national rise in book bans.
The Books UnBanned campaign, founded by the Brooklyn Public Library, champions access to challenged books and promotes education and advocacy around intellectual freedom. Through a grant awarded by the Brooklyn Public Library, McIntosh Memorial Library has formed a team of five local teenagers who serve as Books UnBanned Teen Ambassadors, working to promote the freedom to read and raise awareness in their community.
On April 24 the doors open at 12:15pm, and programming begins at 12:45 p.m. at the Viroqua Area High School Gymnasium with a presentation by the Books UnBanned Teen Ambassadors, who will discuss their advocacy work and introduce a special virtual author visit through Zoom with Lois Lowry. Lowry will speak from 1:00 to 1:30 p.m. about her experiences as an author whose work has faced censorship, and from 1:30-2:00pm will participate in a 30-minute question-and-answer session with the audience.
Lois Lowry is the author of more than fifty books for children and young adults. She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, Number the Stars and The Giver.
Events continue at the Westby Area Performing Arts Center beginning at 4:00 p.m. with a presentation on the Books UnBanned Campaign. Emma Eriksson of Books UnBanned will discuss the campaign’s origins and its role in supporting libraries nationwide.
From 4:30 to 6:00 p.m., the documentary The Librarians will be screened. The film examines the rise of book bans across the United States, and the role librarians play in opposing censorship.
The day will conclude, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., with an evening talk by Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give. Thomas will discuss her work, the challenges it has faced, and broader
cultural conversations surrounding censorship, race, and storytelling. There will be a book signing with this author from 8:00 to 9:00pm. Books by Thomas will be available for purchase at the event through Dragonfly Books, based in Decorah, Iowa.
Angie Thomas was born and raised in Mississippi, but now calls Atlanta her home. She holds a BFA in Creative Writing from Belhaven University and an unofficial degree in Hip Hop. She is an inaugural winner of the Walter Dean Myers Grant 2015, awarded by We Need Diverse Books. Her award-winning, acclaimed debut novel, The Hate U Give, is a #1 New York Times bestseller and major motion picture from Fox 2000, starring Amandla Stenberg and directed by George Tillman, Jr. Her second novel, On the Come Up, is a #1 NYT bestseller as well, and a film directed by Sanaa Lathan with Angie acting as a producer. In 2020, Angie released Find Your Voice: A Guided Journal to Writing Your Truth as a tool to help aspiring writers tell their stories, and in 2021, Angie returned to the top of the NYT bestseller list with Concrete Rose, a prequel to The Hate U Give that focuses on seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter. Her latest work, Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy, is the first in a series aimed at young readers as well as Angie’s first foray into the fantasy genre. Another #1 NYT bestseller, it follows twelve-year-old Nic Blake, who finds herself immersed in a magical world heavily influenced by Black history and folklore. A film adaptation is forthcoming with Angie helming the script and producing.
All programs in this event are free, thanks to the funding provided by the Ridges and Rivers Book Festival, Books UnBanned Campaign, and the Vernon County Opioid Prevention and Abatement Steering Committee.
“We are unbelievably honored to bring these two acclaimed authors in this once in a lifetime opportunity to Vernon County” said Youth Services Director Emilia Jury “We are so looking to bring the message of the Books UnBanned campaign into the spotlight and creating space for meaningful conversations around intellectual freedom, access to diverse voices, and the power of stories to connect and empower young people and families alike.”
For more information, please visit www.mcintoshmemoriallibrary.org, like the “Viroqua Library” Facebook page, or call Youth Services Director Emilia Jury at 608-637-7151, ext. 05.
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