The UCWbL Outreach Team would like to thank everybody who joined us in our celebration of Banned Books Week! On Monday, September 26 at DePaul’s Loop campus we kicked off Banned Books Week by reading banned and challenged books and engaging in a riveting CMWR-hosted discussion of the history of and the current trends in the ever evolving world of censorship.
To wrap up one of our favorite weeks of the year, members of the Outreach Team read excerpts of their favorite banned or challenged texts in the Lincoln Park Student Center Atrium. Interested passersby sat in and listened while chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Howl, and The Grapes of Wrath (to name a few) filled the air with a nostalgic, mildly rebellious and certainly intriguing ambiance.
Some may have wondered, “While I enjoy listening to my peers read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (as it is the best book series EVER), why the heck does the UCWbL care so much about reading censored books? Shouldn’t these UCWbLers be off somewhere sharing their witty words of wisdom with the DePaul community?” However, they may rest assured that writing (more specifically, writing tutoring) and reading banned and challenged books go hand in hand. As peer tutors, one of our goals is always to maintain the originally intended voice of the writer. By reading censored texts (especially by doing so in such a public forum) we are helping these authors speak out above the voices of those trying to silence their work.
If you would like to learn more about frequently banned and challenged books the American Library Association is a great resource
( http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/index.cfm) .
You can also find quite a few of these books at our very own DePaul University Libraries ( http://library.depaul.edu/).
Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for future UCWbL events around campus!
One reply on “Banned Books Week 2011”
Thanks for putting Banned Books Week in context for us, Maggie! UCWbLers, what are some of your favorite banned and/or challenged books? Just because Banned Books Week is over doesn’t mean we have to end the conversation!