Fighting Book Bans with Banned Authors, A Discussion
This Banned Books Week, Brooklyn Public Library is partnering with Books Are Magic and the American Booksellers Association to discuss how to fight books bans and support banned authors here in NYC!
Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in libraries, bookstores, and schools. By focusing on efforts to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship. Typically (but not always) held during the last week of September, the annual event highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community — librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas.
The theme for Banned Books Week 2024 (September 22-28) is "Freed Between the Lines." We can find freedom in the pages of a book — but book bans and censorship threaten that freedom, along with many other rights and institutions. During Banned Books Week 2024 and beyond, let’s share our love of right to read and the freedom found in books. Let’s be Freed Between the Lines!
Maureen Johnson is the bestselling author of several novels, including 13 Little Blue Envelopes, the Truly Devious series, the Suite Scarlett series, and the Shades of London series. She has also written collaborative works such as Let It Snow with John Green and Lauren Myracle and the Bane Chronicles with Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan. Maureen lives in New York and online on Twitter @maureenjohnson or at maureenjohnsonbooks.com.
Frederick Joseph is a Yonkers, NY raised two-time New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. His books include a poetry collection, We Alive, Beloved, two books of nonfiction, Patriarchy Blues, and The Black Friend, a collaboration, Better Than We Found It, and a children’s book, The Courage to Dream, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Joseph’s books have been named Best Children’s Book of the Year by Bank Street College, a Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice selection, nominated for the In The Margins award, Booklist Editors’ Choice, a Notable Trade Book for Young People by the National Council for Social Studies, as well as longlisted for the Green Earth Book Award, and more. He has written for The Boston Globe, Essence, Huffington Post, AdWeek, and Cosmopolitan, and won both the Letter Review Poetry prize and a Letter Review Essay prize. His most recent writing on politics and culture can be found on his Substack. Joseph’s writing and philanthropic work go hand-in-hand, and was most recently honored with the 2023 Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Vanguard Award, as well as the 2024 Allyship Award at Lincoln Center’s Black Girl Magic Ball. He lives with his wife Porsche and dog Stokely in New York City.
Niña Mata is an illustrator and sometimeswriter who has created many books for kids including the #1 New York Times Bestseller “I Promise” by LeBron James. She is also the illustrator of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honored series “Ty’s Travels” by the incomparable Kelly Starling Lyons. She was born in the Philippines and raised in Queens, New York. Because her parents worked and went to night school, Niña spent a lot of time drawing. Her afterschool activities were watching Bob Ross, Reading Rainbow and looking for adventures in the library. Niña has always been inspired by the world around her. Her work is a consistent ode to the diverse community she was raised in. She believes that everyone deserves to see themselves reflected in the stories they read and that we should all be celebrated.
Eliot Schrefer is the New York Times bestselling author of many books for kids and teens, including The Darkness Outside Us and its sequel, The Brightness Between Us, as well as Charming Young Man, Endangered, and Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality. His books have twice been named finalists for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature and have garnered a Printz Honor, a Stonewall Honor, and the Green Earth Book Award. He is on the faculty of the creative writing MFA programs at Hamline University and Fairleigh Dickinson University and lives with his husband in New York City. Visit him online at eliotschrefer.com.
Philomena Polefrone, PhD is ABA’s Advocacy Associate Manager and point person for American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE). A former bookseller, she was also a Lecturer at Columbia University, where she taught courses in writing, literature and activism, science fiction, and political philosophy. Since she joined ABA she has defended free expression and the right to read and has participated in the strategic planning for ABA's lawsuits against unconstitutional laws related to book bans in Texas and Arkansas; created a "Right to Read Toolkit" for bookstores; wrote The ABA Right to Read Handbook for readers; created education for bookstores; and supported bookstores where freedom of expression and right to read were jeopardized.
This Banned Books Week, Brooklyn Public Library is partnering with Books Are Magic and the American Booksellers Association to discuss how to fight books bans and support banned authors here in NYC!
Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in libraries, bookstores, and schools. By focusing on efforts to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship. Typically (but not always) held during the last week of September, the annual event highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community — librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas.
The theme for Banned Books Week 2024 (September 22-28) is "Freed Between the Lines." We can find freedom in the pages of a book — but book bans and censorship threaten that freedom, along with many other rights and institutions. During Banned Books Week 2024 and beyond, let’s share our love of right to read and the freedom found in books. Let’s be Freed Between the Lines!
Maureen Johnson is the bestselling author of several novels, including 13 Little Blue Envelopes, the Truly Devious series, the Suite Scarlett series, and the Shades of London series. She has also written collaborative works such as Let It Snow with John Green and Lauren Myracle and the Bane Chronicles with Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan. Maureen lives in New York and online on Twitter @maureenjohnson or at maureenjohnsonbooks.com.
Frederick Joseph is a Yonkers, NY raised two-time New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. His books include a poetry collection, We Alive, Beloved, two books of nonfiction, Patriarchy Blues, and The Black Friend, a collaboration, Better Than We Found It, and a children’s book, The Courage to Dream, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Joseph’s books have been named Best Children’s Book of the Year by Bank Street College, a Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice selection, nominated for the In The Margins award, Booklist Editors’ Choice, a Notable Trade Book for Young People by the National Council for Social Studies, as well as longlisted for the Green Earth Book Award, and more. He has written for The Boston Globe, Essence, Huffington Post, AdWeek, and Cosmopolitan, and won both the Letter Review Poetry prize and a Letter Review Essay prize. His most recent writing on politics and culture can be found on his Substack. Joseph’s writing and philanthropic work go hand-in-hand, and was most recently honored with the 2023 Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Vanguard Award, as well as the 2024 Allyship Award at Lincoln Center’s Black Girl Magic Ball. He lives with his wife Porsche and dog Stokely in New York City.
Niña Mata is an illustrator and sometimeswriter who has created many books for kids including the #1 New York Times Bestseller “I Promise” by LeBron James. She is also the illustrator of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honored series “Ty’s Travels” by the incomparable Kelly Starling Lyons. She was born in the Philippines and raised in Queens, New York. Because her parents worked and went to night school, Niña spent a lot of time drawing. Her afterschool activities were watching Bob Ross, Reading Rainbow and looking for adventures in the library. Niña has always been inspired by the world around her. Her work is a consistent ode to the diverse community she was raised in. She believes that everyone deserves to see themselves reflected in the stories they read and that we should all be celebrated.
Eliot Schrefer is the New York Times bestselling author of many books for kids and teens, including The Darkness Outside Us and its sequel, The Brightness Between Us, as well as Charming Young Man, Endangered, and Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality. His books have twice been named finalists for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature and have garnered a Printz Honor, a Stonewall Honor, and the Green Earth Book Award. He is on the faculty of the creative writing MFA programs at Hamline University and Fairleigh Dickinson University and lives with his husband in New York City. Visit him online at eliotschrefer.com.
Philomena Polefrone, PhD is ABA’s Advocacy Associate Manager and point person for American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE). A former bookseller, she was also a Lecturer at Columbia University, where she taught courses in writing, literature and activism, science fiction, and political philosophy. Since she joined ABA she has defended free expression and the right to read and has participated in the strategic planning for ABA's lawsuits against unconstitutional laws related to book bans in Texas and Arkansas; created a "Right to Read Toolkit" for bookstores; wrote The ABA Right to Read Handbook for readers; created education for bookstores; and supported bookstores where freedom of expression and right to read were jeopardized.
Brooklyn Public Library - Brooklyn Heights Library, Multipurpose Room MM/DD/YYYY 60