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Celebrate Diversity with CBLDF’s Banned Books Week Events!

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Banned Books Week starts this Sunday and runs through October 1! Celebrate the freedom to read and this year’s theme of diversity with CBLDF during events in Portland, Las Vegas, and Ohio!

Monday, September 26, 6:00 p.m. • U.S. Bank Room – Central Library 801 SW 10th Avenue, Portland, OR  97205

Banned Books: Diversity, Inclusion & Respect

Why are so many diverse books banned? Every year the library celebrates Banned Books Week and the freedom to read. Banned Books Week is an opportunity to call attention to the books most frequently targeted for censorship. Increasingly, books by diverse authors or about diverse communities wind up on the list of most challenged titles.

Comic book authors M.K. Reed (Americus), Jonathan Hill (Americus), Anina Bennett (Boilerplate), Tristan Tarwater (Hen & Chick) and editor Hannah Means-Shannon (Dark Horse Comics) will discuss this trend and express a vision for how greater inclusion means a stronger future for intellectual freedom. This panel discussion is presented and moderated by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Charles Brownstein.

Made possible by The National Endowment for the Humanities Fund of The Library Foundation. More info

Tuesday, September 27, 7:30 p.m. • Powell’s City of Books (1005 W. Burnside Street, Portland, OR 97209)

Banned Books Week: Diversity

Banned Books Week is the annual celebration of the freedom to read and will run from September 25 to October 1, 2016. According to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, it is estimated that over half of all banned books are by authors of color, or contain events and issues concerning diverse communities. Charles Brownstein, Executive Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and chair of the Banned Books Week Coalition, will be joined by authors Cory Doctorow (Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free), Cathy Camper (Lowriders to the Center of the Earth), M. K. Reed (Americus), and illustrator/cartoonist Jonathan Hill (Americus) for a panel discussion on this year’s Banned Books Week theme of diversity. The discussion will be moderated by Candace Morgan, Coordinator of Celebrate the Freedom to Read in Oregon, sponsored by the Oregon Library Association and Oregon Association of School Libraries Intellectual Freedom Committee and the ACLU of Oregon. More info

Tuesday, September 27, 7:00 p.m. • Clark County Library (1401 E. Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV 89119)

Uncensored Voices: Celebrating Your Freedom to Read

Fight censorship and celebrate your freedom to read during Banned Books Week, September 25 – October 1. Every year, there are hundreds of attempts to remove books from the shelves of bookstores, libraries and schools. Join us as Las Vegas Review-Journal Political Columnist Steve Sebelius and our panel of educators and experts — including CBLDF Board Member Katherine Keller — discuss the current state of censorship in Nevada. In addition, Cockroach Theatre will present staged readings of challenged and banned books.  A reception will follow the reading.

Co-sponsored by the ACLU of Nevada, UNLV Libraries Teacher Development & Resources Library and Cockroach Theatre. More info

Friday, September 30, 8:30 a.m. • Ohio Library Council Convention & Expo (Kalahari Resorts & Conventions, 7000 Kalahari Drive • Sandusky, Ohio 44870)

Bring Some [Censored] Comics to the Library! A Panel Discussion About the Controversy of Comics

Comics, graphic novels, and manga are some of the most popular and controversial collections in libraries. Hear the wisdom, anecdotes, and history of censorship in comics from a panel of experts including Charles Brownstein, Executive Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Caitlin McGurk of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, and John “Derf” Backderf, author of My Friend Dahmer, a title that has faced many challenges. Be prepared for some knowledge bombs, quirky stories, and interesting conversation about those most graphic of novels, the comic book. While the panel will be moderated by the OLC’s Intellectual Freedom Committee, there will also be an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about their experiences with censorship. More info

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If you are hosting an event or Banned Books Week display, let us know about it! Register your event with Banned Books Week at http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/events and send an email to betsy.gomez@cbldf.org.

As you’re planning your events or developing your library and classroom curricula, be sure to check out these other valuable CBLDF resources:

CBLDF is an official sponsor of Banned Books Week. Banned Books Week is also sponsored by American Booksellers for Free Expression, American Library Association, Association of American Publishers, Association of American University Presses, The Authors Guild, Dramatists Legal Defense Fund, Freedom to Read Foundation, National Council for Teachers of English, and People for the American Way Foundation. Contributors include American Society of Journalists and Authors, National Coalition Against Censorship, PEN America, and Project Censored. Banned Books Week is endorsed by the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress.

CBLDF’s education program is made possible with the support of the Gaiman Foundation and CBLDF’s Corporate Members — ABRAMS, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, BOOM! Studios, comiXology, DCBS, Diamond Comic Distributors, Dark Horse Comics, DC Entertainment, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Half Price Books, Oni Press, Penguin Random House, ReedPop, TFAW.com, Scholastic, SPX, Valiant, the Will & Ann Eisner Family Foundation — and members like you. Thank you!

Help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work by visiting the Rewards Zone, making a donation, or becoming a member of CBLDF!