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Banned Books Week Founder Dies

By Marcus Gilmer in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 13, 2009 7:00PM

2009_04_13_krug.jpg It's National Library Week, but we're off to a sad start. Judith Krug, founder of the famed Banned Books Week and director of the Chicago-based American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, passed away this weekend. Judith Platt, president of the ALA's Freedom to Read Foundation, told the Associated Press Krug passed away Saturday at Evanston Hospital after a year-long bout with cancer. Krug became head of the ALA's OIF in 1967 and the first Banned Book Week was celebrated in 1982. [AP via Trib]