Friday, September 11, 2009

BBW 2009


by Raelene Gorlinsky

No, not big, beautiful woman, although that's what the acronymn normally means to me. (Being one myself.)

Banned Book Week is September 26 to October 3, 2009.

"Banned Books Week (BBW): Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where the freedom to express oneself and the freedom to choose what opinions and viewpoints to consume are both met."

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm

7 comments:

Lesley Speller said...

It moves me almost to tears (OK, I did actually get a little teary) when I think of the stacks of books I have both digital and paper that would probably get me executed in some countries because they feature non-traditional sexuality and non-majority religious views. Heck, forget about the books I own. The books I write would get me into even more trouble! I love my country, though I grew up in a pocket of it that would shun these same things. Shun them, but not be able to execute me with the support of the government on the basis of them. So YAY for BBW!!! Both acronyms! ;)

Bill Greer said...

Book banning disgusts me (although I can understand some of the issues with school libraries). Those who want a book banned are afraid of the the ideas presented in those books. It just highlights their insecurities in their own beliefs and value system. If you're confident in your faith or morals or political ideology, you're not threatened by an opposing viewpoint.

It's similar to someone who often pontificates on what actions define a real man, or a real American, or a real writer, or whatever. They're insecure in their own status in these categories that they're threatened by the concept that there may be another approach to these tightly held aspects of their life.

Sky Robinson said...

I remember my mom going to library board meetings and being all riled up about someone trying to ban books. She was very much an advocate of not letting anything get banned from the public library in the small town where I grew up. Now I can really appreciate the importance of what she was doing. Get involved, and make a difference in your local library or a bigger organization that supports all books.

Angelia Sparrow said...

There are some books I would like to see fade away simply because they are badly written and do nothing to advance their genre or society. But time will do that with no help from me.

I used to coordinate BBW when I worked at a library. I have a button with the cover of THE HANDMAID'S TALE on it and the words "I read banned books." My daughter has one like it with a Harry potter cover.

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Barbara Elsborg said...
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Barbara Elsborg said...

In our Sunday paper there was an article entitled - India rushes to read sari-rippers.

The boom in these more sexually explicit novels has set readers on a collision course with politicians who feel the moral fibre of the country is under threat.
"This kind of literature should be banned." Words of the Hindu nationalist party spokesman.

Harlequin are doing great business there - can EC follow?? They reckon a sexual revolution is under way. So is there a untapped market?
Nothing like being told I can't do something that makes me want to do just that.