Actor and activist George Takei is dedicating his next project to a cause he has long championed: the right to read. The American Library Association announced on Monday that Takei, 88, will serve as the honorary chair for Banned Books Week, which will be held from October 5-11. During this week, libraries and bookstores across the country will spotlight books that have been censored, including Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye.

Takei, who spent part of his childhood in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, reflected on his personal experience: "I remember all too well the lack of access to books and media that I needed growing up. First as a child in a barbed-wire prison camp, and later as a gay young man in the closet, I felt confused and hungry for understanding about myself and the world around me."

He continued, "Please stand with me in opposing censorship, so that we all can find ourselves — and each other — in books."

Banned Books Week, which began in 1982, has previously been led by honorary chairs such as Ava DuVernay, LeVar Burton, and Jason Reynolds. Takei will share this year’s leadership with honorary youth chair Iris Mogul, a first-year student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who has been actively involved in anti-book-banning efforts for several years.