Libraries

Banned and Determined: WIU Libraries Host Banned Book Celebration

A picture of a stack of books with a chain and lock in front of them and the text banned books week.

In honor of Banned Books Week, the Western Illinois University Libraries will again present "Banned and Determined," an evening of readings from censored, banned and challenged books, on September 28, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the Leslie F. Malpass Garden Lounge.

According to Krista Bowers Sharpe, reference librarian, the program will feature Western faculty, staff and students reading from works that individuals, at various times and places, have tried to suppress. Some featured works are Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie, John Howard Griffin's Black Like Me, and, in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of its publication, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.

Banned Books Week is an annual celebration of controversial reading sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA); this year Banned Books Week takes place September 25 through October 2, 2010. For more information, please visit http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm.

"Western Illinois University Libraries' faculty and staff encourage all readers to join with the ALA in celebrating the freedom to read during Banned Books Week and at all times," Bowers Sharpe said.

This year, in addition to the "Banned and Determined" reading, University Libraries will host a book club highlighting a censored, banned and/or challenged book. Excerpts from Bram Stoker's Dracula, Stephen King's The Dead Zone, and Toni Morrison's Beloved will be featured at the reading, and then interested individuals will meet on Thursday, September 30, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the Garden Lounge to select one book to discuss on October 28.

Organized by Bowers Sharpe, "Banned and Determined" is free and open to the public.

For additional information, please contact Tammy Sayles, Marketing and Outreach Librarian at TJ-Sayles@wiu.edu or at (309) 298-3298.

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