6 Aug 2019 | Events
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Join us to celebrate the right to read at one or all of these upcoming events.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”108921″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.bannedbooksweek.org.uk/events/22nd-september-a-banned-book-at-bedtime-webcast-with-the-museum-of-witchcraft-magic-cornwall/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]22-28 September: Don’t listen with Mother
The Museum of Witchcraft & Magic in Cornwall present a Banned Book at Bedtime – webcasts from the MWM Library. From the Grimoire to the Bodice Ripper; discover ancient magical texts subverted as evidence in witch trials, unpublished transcriptions of conversations with spirits, alchemic formulae, works of occult philosophy and novels so racy and depraved they were banned from sale on the Paris Metro! With special guest Dr Thomas Waters, whose book Cursed Britain is published by Yale University Press.
When: 22-28 September, live-streaming at 10pm
Where: Online @ https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/news/banned/[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”109080″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8997142423058276619″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]23 September: Webinar: Three ways librarians can combat censorship
This webinar will highlight how certain books can be used to engage students and patrons in constructive conversations and what strategies can be used by librarians when censorship arises. Panellists include Molly Dettmann, school librarian at the Norman North High School, Courtney Kincaid, assistant library director at North Richland Hills Library and Adriene Lim, who is dean of libraries at University of Maryland, College Park. The event will be chaired by Jemimah Steinfeld, deputy editor of Index on Censorship magazine.
When: 23 September 4:00 pm — 5:00 pm
Where: Online
Tickets: Full details here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”108431″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.bannedbooksweek.org.uk/events/banned-books-week-john-osbornes-under-plain-covers/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]23 September: John Osborne’s Under Plain Cover
A reading and discussion of the 1962 play by John Osborne at the British Library in London, which miraculously avoided a ban at a time when attitudes towards sexual behaviour were just turning. How differently would the play’s themes of privacy and public morality be received today?
When: 23 September 19:15 – 20:30
Where: Knowledge Centre, The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
Tickets: Full details here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”108430″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.bannedbooksweek.org.uk/events/23-september-walled-in/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]23 September: Walled In
30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, writers consider walls in literature and in our lives. With the resurgence of interest in the boundaries and borders of nations across the world, is the symbol of that wall still potent in 2019? Do walls and censorship go hand-in-hand? And are there places where a wall could mean safety rather than segregation?
With David Hare and Ben Okri. Chaired by Samira Ahmed.
When: 23 September 19:00 – 20:30
Where: Knowledge Centre, The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
Tickets: Full details here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”109077″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.bannedbooksweek.org.uk/event/24-september-desert-island-books-with-redland-library-bristol/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]24 September: Desert Island Books with Redland Library, Bristol
Join the Friends of Redland Library for a panel discussion on banned books with Philip Kent, Professor Madhu Krishnan and Jari Moate. Pay on the door.
When: 24 September 6:45 pm — 8:00 pm
Where: Redland Library, Whiteladies Road, Bristol, BS8 2PY
Tickets: Full details here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”108429″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.bannedbooksweek.org.uk/events/banned-books-week-truly-uncensored-lgbtq-young-adult-literature/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]26 September: Truly Uncensored? LGBTQ+ Young Adult Literature
As part of Banned Book Week 2019, explore the challenges facing LGBTQ+ Young Adult literature with Dean Atta, Fen Coles and Robin Stevens, chaired by Erica Gillingham. What are the invisible barriers to expression and publication? And how do editors, publishers, teachers, librarians, parents or even authors contribute to unofficial censorship around LGBTQ+ issues?
When: 26 September 19:00 – 20:30
Where: Knowledge Centre, The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
Tickets: Full details here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”109049″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.bannedbooksweek.org.uk/events/banned-books-week-truly-uncensored-lgbtq-young-adult-literature/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]26 September: Write and Shine’s radical and rebellious writing workshop
Write & Shine runs a programme of morning writing events in peaceful London locations. As part of Banned Books Week, we’ll host a session about writing that takes a stand. We’ll create subversive stories, consider rebellious writers & think about books that have changed the way we look at the world
When: 26 September 9:00 – 10:45am
Where: Waterstone’s Bookshop, 19 Tottenham Court Rd, Fitzrovia, London W1T 1BW
Tickets: Full details here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”108415″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.bannedbooksweek.org.uk/events/28-september-1984-at-70-how-has-orwells-vision-aged/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]28 September: 1984 at 70 – How has Orwell’s vision aged?
It is 70 years since George Orwell published 1984. So how do our political and personal landscapes today compare to Orwell’s dystopia? And can the book shed light on today’s data-driven security and surveillance society? Our panel: Dorian Lynskey, author of The Ministry of Truth, an acclaimed new biography of 1984; award-winning foreign affairs writer David Pratt; and Julia Farrington of Index on Censorship. Chaired by Magnus Linklater.
When: 28 September 12:00 – 14:00
Where: Festival Marquee, 11 N Main St, Wigtown, Newton Stewart DG8 9HN
Tickets: Full details here. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
These Banned Books Week events have been created in partnership with the British Library, English PEN, Free Word, Hachette UK, Index on Censorship, Islington Council’s Library and Heritage Service, Libraries Connected and The Publisher’s Association.
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1 Aug 2019 | Artistic Freedom, News and features
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”108364″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]Nothing defined 20th-century American culture quite like the comic book. Comics in their popular, serialised form emerged in 1930s New York City, mass-produced by recent immigrants and their children who had grown up reading one-strip funny cartoons. The early success of Superman (the concoction of two young Jewish immigrants, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster) spurred the rapid growth of the comics industry. By the mid-1940s, many small-time comic publishers were churning out hundreds of series and characters of all genres.
Soon after comics’ meteoric rise in popularity, the industry drew criticism. Comics were never regarded as “high art” despite the aspirations of many who worked in the industry. They were unapologetically for children and adolescents, produced as entertainment for the lower classes. Many of the comics genres that rose to extreme popularity in the 1930s, 40s and 50s revolved around crime, ghosts and ghouls, aliens, and pulpy romance. Notably, EC Comics started by Bill Gaines was famous for Crime Does Not Pay, a comic that published macabre tales that blurred the line between good and evil. Gaines inherited the publishing business from his father, who had died suddenly in a boating accident, and EC comics became synonymous with the seediest corners of the comics industry.
Because of the gore and sexual content of early comics, the parents of devoted teenage comics readers began to worry about the effect of the comic book on children. The Catholic Church at the time allowed local dioceses to impose bans on certain books, which they quickly levied against most comic books, placing them on lists of books thought to be unsuitable for good Catholic youth. Concerned parents around the country wrote op-eds in local newspapers about the dangers of comics. Parent-teacher associations organised comic book burnings, though Nazi book burnings were still fresh in national memory. Students themselves occasionally spearheaded book burnings and comic purges from school libraries, encouraging friends to bring their collections to fuel the bonfire.
The final straw in the early 1950s was in the form of a book called Seduction of the Innocent, by psychologist Frederic Wertham. Wertham’s book contained no scientific research and was based solely on anecdotal interactions between the psychologist and patients at his clinic. It was unapologetically political and linked the rise of the comic book industry to rises in youth crime (which did not, statistically, exist). The central argument of his book was that the cartoon violence on the pages of comics spurred youth to commit more crimes and that banning comics would drastically decrease rates of youth criminality. Seduction of the Innocent spurred a series of Senate hearings on whether the government should take action against comics. Led by famous Senator Estes Kefauver, the hearings were televised for the comics-hating public to see. This was not the first time government action against comics had been considered: at that point, several bills had been introduced in different state legislatures to enact government censorship on the distribution of comics, though most had been shot down on First Amendment grounds.
The Senate hearings terrified the entire comics industry. Bill Gaines, high on stimulants, testified at the hearings. In a riveting cross-examination by Senator Kefauver, Gaines was backed into a corner, forced to defend a recent Crime Does Not Pay cover (which depicted a hand holding a severed woman’s head) as “good taste.” The Senate hearings led only to a harsh denouncement of comic books and endorsement of Wertham’s pseudoscientific theories about their link to youth crime. The government took no official action to censor comics, though it did encourage the industry to censor itself, which the industry gladly did.
Gaines had, years earlier, formed the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers (ACMP). In an effort to resist government censorship, Gaines rallied ACMP again, though fellow publishers thought it safer to develop intra-industry codes rather than to allow the government to officially censor comics. Fearful that government censorship was worse, the latent ACMP morphed into the Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA). The CMAA then created the Comics Code Authority (CCA), which developed extremely strict guidelines for comics publishing–no weapons, good must always triumph over evil, women must be conservatively dressed. Since the CMAA controlled the means of production of comic books, without CCA approval no comics could go to the presses.
Full-time CCA censors would comb through every comic issue, circling any potential violations. The publishers who had previously specialised in crime comics, romances, science fiction and fantasy couldn’t get anything published — essentially, only superheroes remained. Comics became sanitised, and many smaller publishers closed down, with comics creators leaving the industry in droves. Bill Gaines’s EC Comics was finally shuttered when CCA censors objected to Gaines sympathetically portraying a black man in a comic.
The CCA’s regulations slowly loosened over time, yet the CCA remained essential in the industry for decades. Without the now-notorious CCA seal of approval on the cover, no comic would be sold. As independently publishing became easier and comics publishers consolidated, there became an independent financial motive for publishing and selling comics from many publishers regardless of their adherence to CCA standards. CCA standards also became looser, as artists infused already-popular series with themes that would have been previously unacceptable–for example, comic giant Jack Kirby famously included a storyline about drug addiction in a popular superhero series. In the 2000s, large publishers stopped seeking CCA approval, starting with Marvel Comics in 2001. By 2011, DC and Archie comics stopped seeking CCA approval for their comics, rendering the agency finally defunct.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Banned Books Week / 22-28 Sept 2019″ use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bannedbooksweek.org.uk%2F|||”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”103109″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.bannedbooksweek.org.uk/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]
Banned Books Week UK is a nationwide campaign for radical readers and rebellious readers of all ages celebrate the freedom to read. Between 22 – 28 September 2019, bookshops, libraries, schools, literary festivals and publishers will be hosting events and making noise about some of the most sordid, subversive, sensational and taboo-busting books around.
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22 Jul 2019 | Artistic Freedom, News and features
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”108031″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 19 October 2018, the city of Orange City, Iowa, held a LGBT+ pride parade downtown, and a drag queen story hour in the public library. One man, however, had already checked out of the festivities–and he had taken several library books with him.
Paul Dorr, a resident of nearby Ocheyedan and the director of the Christian organisation Rescue the Perishing, posted a live video to Facebook about an hour before the parade was scheduled to start. During the video‘s 29 minutes, Dorr recited a Rescue the Perishing blog post entitled “May God And The Homosexuals of OC Pride Please Forgive Us!” and threw four books he claimed were from the library into a flaming trash can. Dorr explained that he was protesting drag queen story hour, and told viewers that his actions were inspired by the burning by Nazi youth of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, a private sexology research institute, in 1933.
The books Dorr burned in were all LBGT-themed children’s books: Two Boys Kissing, by David Leviathan, is a tween romance; Christine Baldacchino’s Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress is about a young boy who enjoys wearing a dress; This Day in June, by Gayle E. Pitman, is a picture book about pride; and Suzanne and Max Lang’s Families, Families, Families! is a children’s book about nontraditional families.
This is not the first time the Orange City Library has seen controversy over LBGT books. Earlier in 2018, 340 people petitioned the library to label LGBT books and separate them from the rest. The library did subsequently reorganise its books into sections based on subject matter, though whether this was done in response to the petition is unclear.
After the due date for the books he had checked out passed without their return, the Orange City Attorney’s Office arrested Dorr and charged him with fifth-degree criminal mischief. The charge is a misdemeanor, and if found guilty Dorr would face a maximum sentence of 30 days in prison and a $625 (£500) fine. After the book burning, Rescue the Perishing also began to receive LGBT books in the mail, which the organisation’s Facebook page promises “will only end up being consumed by flames and never opened”.
On 6 June, 2019, Dorr, who represented himself in court, filed a motion asking magistrate Lisa Mazurek, the judge in his case, to dismiss the charge against him on the grounds that the library had infringed upon his First Amendment right to speak by treating him differently than other patrons who did not return their books. He has elsewhere insisted that the library has no grievance against him because he sent in money to cover the replacement costs. On 12 July 2019, Mazurek refused to dismiss the charges, saying that she believes Dorr was not punished for his views but for destroying public property. Unless the parties settle, Dorr will stand trial 6 August, 2019.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Banned Books Week / 22-28 Sept 2019″ use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bannedbooksweek.org.uk%2F|||”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”103109″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.bannedbooksweek.org.uk/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]
Banned Books Week UK is a nationwide campaign for radical readers and rebellious readers of all ages celebrate the freedom to read. Between 22 – 28 September 2019, bookshops, libraries, schools, literary festivals and publishers will be hosting events and making noise about some of the most sordid, subversive, sensational and taboo-busting books around.
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9 Sep 2018 | Events
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”102590″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”102591″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”102592″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”102595″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]Whether focused on race, gender equality, sexual orientation or mental health, movements are growing at a rapid speed due to digital media, demonstrations and published works. Yet the growth and prevalence of advocacy can make it easy to forget that these voices rose above their silencers’ attempt at censorship.
Join the Index on Censorship, American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and SAGE Publishing for “Speak Out: Voicing Movements in the Face of Censorship.” In this Banned Books Week webinar, authors will engage in conversation on writing, activism and speaking out. How have they used their words to speak out about something that has been silenced? What is the difference between being a voice of and for a movement? And what will it take for the USA to be censorship free in both oral and written word?
Featured speakers include:
- Brandy Colbert, award-winning author of various fiction works including Little & Lion, a story that touches on the intersection of race, sexuality and religion
- Alex Gino, author of George, an award-winning and heartwarming middle grade book about a transgender girl
- Marni Brown, acclaimed author of Gendered Lives, Sexual Beings, a textbook lauded for its intersectional framework, and an assistant professor of sociology at Georgia Gwinnett College
The link to the webinar will be shared closer to the time.
The webinar will be moderated by Jemimah Steinfeld, deputy editor of Index on Censorship magazine
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When: Tuesday 25 September 7:30 PM BST/2:30 PM EDT/1:30PM CDT/11:30AM PDT
Where: Online Webinar.
Tickets: Free. Registration required
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[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]In partnership with:[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”102596″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/oif”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”88957″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/magazine/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”102597″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]
