Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

Legendary illustrator and writer Maurice Sendak passed away last week at the age of 83. His Caldecott Medal winning work Where the Wild Things Are is indelibly etched into the minds of children and adults throughout the world as a flawless portrait of childhood, incorporating both the sublime and acrimonious aspects of youth. Sendak remains the only American to win the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for illustration and is well-known for creating honest characters that are headstrong, boisterous, and even unlikable.

Sendak’s books have been frequently challenged in libraries, in particular his children’s book In the Night Kitchen, another award-winning book that features a young boy’s dream journey through a baker’s kitchen. The book upset many librarians and adults because its young protagonist, Mickey, was depicted in the nude. Many librarians censored the book by painting diapers over the boy’s genitals, and in some cases the book was even burned.

Click through for excerpts from letters Sendak’s editor, Ursula Nordstrom, wrote in defense of the book.

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Today, the American Library Association announced the addition of ALA GraphiCon, a new mini-conference occurring within the ALA Annual Conference, which takes place June 21 – 26, 2012, in Anaheim, California. GraphiCon will provide programming that supports the inclusion of graphic novels and comic books in library collections.

Click through for the official press release from ALA and information on how you can get involved.
CBLDF President Larry Marder and Executive Director Charles Brownstein will attend ALA’s annual conference. Like ALA, CBLDF is an official sponsor of Banned Books Week, which takes place September 30 – October 6, 2012. Banned Books Week is dedicated to “celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.” CBLDF is creating tools that retailers and librarians can use during this year’s 30th Anniversary Banned Books Week Celebration to raise awareness of challenged and banned comics and graphic novels. To get a headstart on the festivities, please check out the CBLDF Rewards Zone, where we have items such as our “I Read Banned Comics” t-shirt available to help raise money for this important program. If you have a First Amendment emergency, call 1-800-99-CBLDF!

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On Wednesday, May 23, CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein will be part of a continuing legal education program discussing the PROTECT Act, the federal law under which Christopher Handley was prosecuted for the possession of child pornography. Authorities alleged that Handley’s manga collection contained obscene depictions of children in sexual situations. Several other individuals have been prosecuted and convicted under the law, which legislates that non-photographic images depicting minors in sexual situations is child pornography. Certain parts of the law have been struck down as unconstitutional, but some still stand. Brownstein will join NYU School of Law professor Amy Adler and Michael Delohery, the chief of Westchester County DA’s Office’s High Technology Crime Bureau, for a discussion about the law and the concerns of creators, publishers, and collectors of various forms of entertainment, including comics.

The program takes place at Sotheby’s Institute of Art (570 Lexington Avenue, 6th Floor, New York) on May 23, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. and it open to the public. For more details and to register for the program, visit the New York State Bar Association’s website here.

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After a delayed trial, a panel of five judges convicted Nabil Karoui, the director of Tunisia’s Nessma television channel, of “disturbing public order” and “threatening public morals” for airing Persepolis, the animated film version of Marjane Satrapi’s acclaimed graphic novel. The film has a brief depiction of God, which is considered offensive by many Muslims. Karoui has been fined the equivalent of $1,600 and two members of his staff, who played a role in the airing of the film, were each fined $800.

More on the story after the jump…

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Artists! If you’ve ever dreamed of illustrating a Neil Gaiman story, you still have one more day to submit your design to the Threadless Comics-On Tees Design Challenge! If you win, your t-shirt design will be released alongside shirts by Ben Templesmith (Fell, 30 Days of Night), Brandon Graham (Prophet, King City), and John Cassaday (Captain America, Planetary)!

For fans, several designs are already up, which you can view here. Threadless’s community of 1.8 million members will pick the final design, and the chosen shirt will be revealed at Comic-Con International in San Diego! When the four-part series is released, 25% of the proceeds will benefit CBLDF’s important First Amendment work.

Artists, you have only one more day! For more details on the contest, visit the Threadless Atrium here.

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The 37th Annual Long Island Library Conference takes place tomorrow, May 3, and CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein will be on hand to present “With Great Stories Comes Great Responsibility, a program that addresses the unique challenges that comics and graphic novels face in libraries. Brownstein will be speaking from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at the Melville Marriot (1350 Old Walt Whitman Road, Melville, New York 11747). You can register for this popular conference here.

Please join Brownstein and fellow library lovers for the 37th Annual Long Island Library Conference, an educational forum that provides instructive programming and networking opportunities to help improve the quality of libraries in the Long Island community!

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In April, the Alabama Alcohol Beverage Control Board banned the sale of Dirty Bastard beer statewide because of the language used on the beer’s label. Beer and wine are common commodities on Alabama store shelves, and the beer was banned because of concerns over children seeing the language used on the label. The ban, while not applied to all consumer products, sets an uncomfortable and dangerous precedent with regard to the display of merchandise in Alabama.

More after the jump…

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Since ending the acclaimed Mexican American Studies program, the Tucson Independent School District has done little to ameliorate the outcry about censorship that has arisen in response. TUSD’s latest move is unlikely to help them win any friends: the school district recently rejected an offer to read from award-winning author Ana Castillo. Castillo offered to read at schools throughout Tucson free of charge and to pay for her own travel in an effort to help the community heal from the rift that resulted from the school board’s decision to end the MAS program and remove books from classrooms.

More details after the jump…

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