Libraries

2013 Banned Books Week

Blacked out text with only "what you're missing" visible and the text BANNED BOOKS WEEK

In honor of the American Library Association's Banned Books Week, Western Illinois University Libraries will present its sixth annual "Banned and Determined" event, an evening of readings from censored, banned and challenged books, which will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24 in the Leslie F. Malpass Garden Lounge.

According to Krista Bowers Sharpe, reference librarian at University Libraries, the program will feature Western faculty, staff and students reading from works that individuals, at various times and places, have tried to suppress. This year's featured books are among the top ten most frequently challenged works of 2012, including Jeannette Walls' "The Glass Castle," Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner" and Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet."

Banned Books Week is an annual celebration of controversial reading sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA). This year, Banned Books Week will take place Sept. 22-28. (For more information, see ALA's website at www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek.)

"Western Illinois University Libraries' faculty and staff encourage all readers to join with the ALA in celebrating the freedom to read during Banned Books Week and at all times," Bowers Sharpe said. "Our celebration of 'Banned and Determined' is open free to the public."

For more information, contact Tammy Sayles, marketing and outreach librarian, at (309) 298-3298 or at TJ-Sayles@wiu.edu.