Banned Books Week launches this Sunday, September 21, and CBLDF has events planned coast to coast all week to celebrate the freedom to read! From New York City to California, CBLDF will spend the week celebrating comics and graphic novels with parties, talks, and more!
CBLDF’s Banned Books Week Kick-Off!
Monday, September 22 • 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
BRIC (647 Fulton Street, New York, NY)
Celebrate the Freedom to Read with the city’s greatest graphic novelists at CBLDF’s Banned Books Week Kick-Off! Join us to wind down another successful Brooklyn Book Festival, and to celebrate the opening of Banned Books Week, which this year celebrates comics and graphic novels! Mingle with comics creators and learn what you can do in your community to protect the freedom to read! This event is free to CBLDF Members and Brooklyn Book Fest partners.
Copyright vs. Creativity: Is Intellectual Property Reserved for the 1%?
Tuesday, September 23 • 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Lipton Hall (inside D’Agostino Hall, 110 West 3rd Street, New York, NY)
To coincide with the US launch of the graphic novel, Ricky Rouse Has a Gun, this panel asks whether copyright has lost one of its principle functions: to protect authors and original ideas. In the digital age, does copyright have a purpose beyond protecting corporations from illegal copying and file sharing?
Panelists: Jörg Tittel, Author, Ricky Rouse Has a Gun; Charles Brownstein, Executive Director, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; Professors Christopher Sprigman and Barton Beebe, NYU School of Law.
Email Nicole Arzt, nicole.arzt@nyu.edu, if you plan to attend. Free sandwiches will be offered on a first-come-first-served basis.
Censorship and Comics in America
Wednesday, September 24 • 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Berkeley Public Library (North Branch, 1170 The Alameda at Hopkins, Berkeley, CA)
Charles Brownstein, Executive Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, takes you through the secret history of American comics in this engaging lecture. Learn how moral panic led to comic book burning, how censorship shaped the modern comics landscape, what modern threats to comics freedom still exist, and what YOU can do to help!
Beware of Comics! A Banned Books Week Conversation with Scott McCloud & Larry Marder
Thursday, September 25 • 7:00 p.m.
San Diego Central Library Auditorium (330 Park Blvd., San Diego, CA)
DANGER! Comics are still risky business, with contents so shocking that they’re being banned all over the United States! On Thursday, September 25, celebrate Banned Books Week at Beware of Comics! featuring Scott McCloud, acclaimed author of Understanding Comics and the long-awaited graphic novel The Sculptor, and Larry Marder, the creator of the graphic novel series Beanworld and president of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in a lively conversation about comics, censorship, and what makes the medium so dangerous in the 21st Century. This event is presented by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and Comic-Con International at 7:00 pm in the Auditorium at the San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., San Diego, CA 92101. Admission is free with a suggested donation to the CBLDF. Seating is limited. More details
Even if you can’t make it to a CBLDF event during Banned Books Week, we can help you get prepared! We’ll be posting about more amazing events throughout, and check out these great resources from CBLDF:
• Free Posters and Resources for Banned Books Week!
• CBLDF Banned Books Week Handbook