Can you feel the magic in the air? Bookmans is conjuring up a whole lot of entertainment this September and we can’t wait to share it with you! We’re talking special storytimes, new tabletop gaming nights, authors, exclusive musical merch, Hogwarts happenings, and more!

September is the month when Bookmans focuses on one of our core values – anti-censorship! Whether you know it or not, censorship plays a big role in our lives. Bookmans is taking the whole month of September to address this very real form of censorship. We’ve got some special anti-censorship-themed events and in-store displays to inform and invite conversations on this topic. But first, a little magic!

Banned Book Month Sept graphic

You might be surprised to learn that the Harry Potter series is the most challenged book on record. Seriously! As it happens, September isn’t just a month that features Banned Book Week, it is also time that the students get back to school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy! To celebrate this epic and challenged book, Bookmans stores are having some Hogwarts-style fun! 

In Tucson, Bookmans Midtown and Northwest stores are celebrating the most important day in every wizard’s life with a Welcome to Hogwarts: Back to School Soirée and a Back to Hogwarts Bash! Think you know everything about Harry Potter? Prove it at the House Trivia competition at Midtown! Up at our Flagstaff store, the Back to Hogwarts party kicks off September 1 with a scavenger hunt, face painting and more. Over in the Valley, Bookmans Mesa is adding magic to their painting session with Studio Nights: An Evening at Hogwarts and the Phoenix store is hosting a Back to Hogwarts Celebration on the 7th that includes a wand making craft!

september back to hogwarts party

Of course, there’s more to anti-censorship than Harry Potter parties, though we do love those! Bookmans Northwest is hosting an Author Day Celebration featuring local writers. The Phoenix store has two special Banned Book Storytime and Craft events in the works that speak to censorship. They’ll be reading two children’s stories which have caused a stir and hit the banned and challenged lists: Ferdinand by Munro Leaf and The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. There’s also the Blackout Poetry craft event on Sept 28!

Want to know what it would be like to live in a world of censorship? Find out firsthand at the Bookmans Bans Books event at East. The Arizona Curriculum Theater is joining Bookmans Mesa to read portions from another surprisingly challenged book, Peter Pan, on Sept 6. Join us for Excerpts From “Peter Pan” event on September 6. Seats are limited and this event will fill up fast! Our Mesa store is also donating books to the Banned Book Reading event at Alwun House, hosted by The Arizona LGBT+ History Project! 

Musicians, prick up your ears – Bookmans Midtown and East are now the exclusive Tucson suppliers of the incredible Earthquaker pedals! To get you up close and personal with these awesome pedals, East and Midtown are hosting Earthquaker pedal testing events on the 14th. Did we mention that you could WIN one of these pedals?! Best of all, the events are back to back so you can enter to win at both stores!

If you’re up in Flagstaff, we highly recommend that you head to  FLAVOR, the Northern Arizona Food and Wine Festival on Saturday, September 14! Best of all, Bookmans Flagstaff has been gifted 2 PAIRS of TICKETS to give to two lucky winners. Be sure to follow @bookmansflagstaff on Instagram and Facebook to win! 

Bookmans has been having a blast with our Dungeons & Dragons events, but we thought we’d branch out in September. We’re calling all tabletop gamers to join us for our Magic the Gathering meet-ups and game nights at each and every store! To find out when your local Bookmans is hosting their Magic the Gathering events and to check out the entire roster of fun to come, visit our events page!