Penguin Random House Celebrates the Second Annual Eleanor Roosevelt Banned Books Awards
On Saturday, October 11, Penguin Random House celebrated the second annual Eleanor Roosevelt Banned Book Awards, which took place at the historic Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Presented by The Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill, in partnership with PEN America, it was a galvanizing event celebrating our authors and our efforts in the fight against censorship. Penguin Random House is a proud partner of The Eleanor Roosevelt Center and a sponsor of the Banned Book Awards. Notably, the evening’s awards took place on Eleanor Roosevelt’s 141st birthday.
The night’s greatest cause for celebration was undoubtedly Margaret Atwood, who attended in-person to accept her Lifetime Achievement Award. “Young, risk-taking writers—hang in there. I’m proud of you, and I wish you very good luck. Eleanor Roosevelt would have done the same. I will cherish this deeply meaningful award,” said Atwood in her acceptance speech.
Penguin Random House author, and PEN America President, Jennifer Finney Boylan, was the keynote speaker of an invigorating rallying cry for banned authors everywhere. “The ideas described by the words I have written have been erased. As the author of three books that have been banned, I can tell you the ideas in those books are still real.”
The 2025 honorees also included Penguin Random House authors John Green, for his novel, LOOKING FOR ALASKA, Malinda Lo, for her novel, LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB, and Matthew A. Cherry and Vashti Harrison, for their picture book, HAIR LOVE. Other honorees included Juno Dawson, for THIS BOOK IS GAY, and Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, for their picture book AND TANGO MAKES THREE.
District Library Coordinator in Leander, Texas, Becky Calzada, was also granted the Literary Freedom Award. She is a co-founding member of Texas #FReadom Fighters, a grass-roots led group of librarians launched back in October of 2021 in support of intellectual freedom and to highlight the positive work of school librarians.
The significance of the evening cannot be overstated and was an inspiring conclusion to this year’s Banned Books Week. Penguin Random House will continue to support and uplift authors, creators, libraries, and voices everywhere in the fight for the freedom to read.
“The Eleanor Roosevelt Banned Book Awards have become an essential platform in raising awareness around the dangers of censorship and the importance of diverse voices in literature,” Skip Dye, SVP & Director, Sales Operations & Library Sales. “They honor Eleanor Roosevelt’s legacy — a legacy that continues to light the way toward equality, justice, and freedom of thought.”
Check out more photos from the event! (Click each image to enlarge.)