Gina Meyers, a member of the Redwood City Library Foundation Board, is very clear: "after research, we have found that over the past few years, the number of books that have been banned across the country, in different areas, has increased dramatically."
According to PEN (Poets, Essayists, Novelists) USA, from July 2021 to March 2022, 1145 titles by 874 writers in 86 school districts in 26 states were affected. Texas tops the list with 713 titles.
Among the efforts that have been made at the national level to revoke these threats and prohibitions is the auction of an "anti-fire" specimen of The Handmaid's Taleby Margaret Atwood for $130,000. The Canadian writer herself certified that the copy was "fireproof" when she tried to burn it publicly.
The Redwood City Library Foundation Board has also decided to do something special for Banned Books Week this year: on Wednesday, September 22, from 5 to 8 pm, there will be a tour of different bars in downtown Redwood City with each establishment featuring a banned book and offering discounted drink specials.
The tour will begin at the Redwood City Library and continue to the following establishments: Alhambra, Angelicas, Blacksmith, City Pub, CRU, Gourmet Haus Staudt, Little Green, LV Mar, Quinto Sol, The BottleShop, The Hub and The Sandwich Spot.
Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased on the website: eventbrite.com
Gina Meyers explains that the idea for this original fundraiser grew out of the so-called speakesiesIn 1922, places where alcoholic beverages were sold illegally during Prohibition in the United States and people were discreetly told where they could share a drink. "In 2022, we want libraries to not become the speakesies of banned books".
"I think it's important for people to know," Meyers continues, "especially explaining to them what we mean. Sometimes when we say banned or threatened books people assume they are titles that are no longer in print or have been pulled from the shelves, but that's often not the case."
The most common pressure regarding banned books, says Gina Meyers, is the threat of withdrawal of funds from public libraries, as happened with the small Patmos Library in Jamestown, Michigan, "They had a graphic novel with LGBTTIQ content and a group of people decided it was too visible. So the library took it off the shelves but didn't take it down, they put it under the desk, so minors weren't going to be able to accidentally see it but it was available if someone requested it. However, that group of people were not happy that it was still there, so they started a campaign to convince the community to vote NO in an upcoming referendum to give the library funding."
The graphic novel in question is Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe, an autobiography in which the author comes to terms with being non-binary. This is the most banned book in the United States according to The New York Times.
After the Patmos library was, in effect, left without such funds, anonymous donors were able to collect 245,000 dollars in two campaigns on the online platform GoFundMe, of which 50,000 came out of the novelist's pocket. Nora Roberts.
According to the American Library AssociationIn addition, banning and/or threatening books causes significant harm to communities: "Students are unable to access critical information that helps them understand themselves and the world around them. Parents lose the opportunity to engage in teachable moments with their children. And communities lose the opportunity to learn and build mutual understanding."
According to a cloud of topics for which books are threatened or banned in the United States, conducted by the same association, the most abundant is LGBTIQA+, followed closely by Black Lives Matter, Political Viewpoint, Racism, Religious Viewpoint and Anti-police, among others.
In addition, Nathalie Baptiste, writer and reporter of the HuffPost and of Mother Jonesstates that there is a plot of the most conservative groups in the United States (e.g., Moms for Liberty and Catholic Vote) to destroy public libraries.
Among the books that have been threatened and/or banned over the years are such indispensable titles of world literature as. Huck Finnby Mark Twain, in the 1880s, because it was considered racist and anti-religious; The grapes of wrathby John Steinbeck, in 1939, for the use of vulgar words and profanity, I know why the caged bird singsMaya Angelou, in 1969, for its language and portrayals of racism, explicit sexuality and teenage sex; Blue eyes, by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, in 2007, because it portrays the sexual abuse of a young girl and has explicit sexual content, among many others.
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