BARROW Library has been celebrating peoples' freedom to read without censorship.

The team have been busy setting up their display of books that have been banned or challenged for various reasons across the world.

The thought-provoking display has been created ahead of the Banned Books Week national campaign.

Cathy Fidler, community services officer at the library said: “It’s been fascinating for us to see how many books have in fact been challenged at some point.

“It includes a lot of the most popular and mainstream books.

“They’re not niche or obscure.

“It’s just interesting to see how some of the most popular books are also the most challenged.”

Banned Books Week UK is a nationwide campaign for radical and rebellious readers of all ages to celebrate the freedom to read.

Between September 22 and 28, bookshops, libraries, schools and publishers will be hosting events and making noise about some of the most sordid, subversive, sensational and taboo busting books around.

Banned Books Week UK aims to capture the the imagination of people of ages and backgrounds, celebrating the freedom to read while at the same time educating and informing them about key issues relating to book censorship, from outright banning of books to more subtler forms of silencing, such as traditional publishing structures or taboo topics.

Ms Fidler said: “Often the reasons for books being challenged were linked to issues like sexuality, offensive language, witchcraft or they don’t promote a certain lifestyle.

“I think book censorship needs to be challenged and the freedom to read should be promoted because reading is key to understanding the lives of other people.”

The banned books include:

Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar, 2000.

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher, 2001.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, 2005.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, 2007.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 2008.

The Color of Water by Dong Hwa Kim, 2009.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, 2012.

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan, 2013.

Death in the Spotlight by Robin Stevens, 2018.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, 2017.

Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin, 2014.

Drama by Raina Telgemeier 2012.