Banned Books Week Read-Out

You just can’t shut some people up… and sometimes that’s a good thing.
For one week a year, the fight that some librarians fight on an almost daily basis gets aired to the public. Banned Books Week is a celebration of the controversial written word in late September and early October.
To kick off the Banned Books Week each year, the ALA (based in Chicago), the ACLU, and various Chicago charities play host to some of the authors who had their books challenged and/​or removed from libraries in the past year in a free, public, outdoor event — the Banned Books Read-​Out.
Now some people think that book bannings are a thing of the past and might question if there’s still a need to have a protest about book removal. But book pulling still happen every day in all corners of the country. From old standbys that have been attacked for generations such as «The Catcher in the Rye» (challenged this year in Missoula, MT) to this year’s #1 most challenged book «And Tango Makes Three» (with its *shock* non-​fictional possibly homosexual penguins), there is still an effort afoot to get books removed.
Therefore, there is a need to protest censorship. So big name and small controversial authors get together for two hours and read passages from their censored works and the challenged works of others.
This year’s event, for example, contained readings by the author of «Gossip Girl» Cecily Von Ziegesar (the 7^th most challenged book this year, though with the popularity of the TV show, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it higher next year) and Khaled Hosseini («The Kite Runner» — #9 most challenged) amongst many others.
Far from flaunting some sort of anarchic tendencies, however, the authors speak at length about engaging would-​be censors. They’re all poignant speakers who share stories about the lives their books have touched (and how this might not have been possible had their novels been banned from the student in question’s library). But they’re also, usually, very humorous short speeches and readings.
The main thrust (oh maybe that’s a bad metaphor, thankfully Unilocal generally doesn’t censor) of the mini-​festival is on books banned from schools but, in general, it provides a strong, universal, anti-​censorship message without being overly preachy.
Plus, there are always free books being given out, author signings, buttons, and posters to keep the anti-​censorship movement going year round.
This year the reading was moved to the smaller confines of Bughouse Square from Tribune Plaza (and shortened to two hours from four). It’s sort of a shame since with the size of the authors who speak for the cause of reading, this festival should be huge. Too bad they don’t publicize it better.
For people all about speaking up, ironically, I barely heard a peep about it in the lead-​up. I went out and researched it just in time that I didn’t miss it. Maybe next year the organizers will be louder about this important event.