Library of the Damned

September 22, 2024

“This is a dangerous time for readers and the public servants who provide access to reading materials. Readers, particularly students, are losing access to critical information, and librarians and teachers are under attack for doing their jobs.”

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Libraries Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom

The Literary Community comes together each year in the last full week of September to honor our freedom to read and share ideas—even unpopular ideas. Banned Books Week spotlights historic and current attempts to censor literature in schools and libraries.

Every year Flagstaff Writer's Connection and I join the American Library Association to celebrate banned books by reading banned books, and making the public more aware of the problem of censorship. Despite this annual event, book banning has become more prevalent in the last few years. This year, I will be bringing you daily posts about the epidemic of book banning.

You are invited to take part in this celebration by reading part of a banned book and submiting your recording to the National Virtual Read Out where your recording will appear on their YouTube channel

You might be surprised at some of the classics that have been banned in the past. Here is a short list:

The Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Some people have an underdeveloped sense of irony.)