Philip Pullman on Censorship

How appropriate that Philip Pullman, author of "The Golden Compass" has a great piece on censorship in the Guardian this week

The inevitable result of trying to ban something – book, film, play, pop song, whatever – is that far more people want to get hold of it than would ever have done if it were left alone. Why don't the censors realise this?

Banned Books Week

From the ALA Website

Banned Books Week: 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. This year, 2008, marks BBW's 27th anniversary (September 27 through October 4).

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 these two essential conditions are met.

BBW is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Library Association, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Association of American Publishers, National Association of College Stores, and is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

So what do you have planned? Feel free to post events, activities or ideas here

or if you need some ideas, check the ALA Presskit or the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression free online handbook.

Fahrenheit 451 in Weld County

This from the PR Department at High Plains Library District:

This event is part of the Big Read celebration featuring Fahrenheit 451 and will feature David Kipen, Literature Director with the National Endowment for the Arts and community leaders reading the names and brief excerpts from the American Library Association's list of Banned Books while burning the mock novel.

For more information on this event, please contact Kelli Johnson.

The Big Read 2008: Fahrenheit 451 will take place from September 21 - October 31. A full schedule of events is available on line at www.MyLibrary.us.

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museums and Library Science and Arts Midwest.

Fahrenheit 451 is one of my favorite novels, for many reasons, but I'm not sure yet how I feel about a "mock" book burning even as part of banned books event .... how about you?

If you want to read a real treasure of book about book burning gone wild, try Out of the Flames by Lawrence and Nacy Goldstone, one of the best books that I've read in the last year

ttnf goes bye-bye

An outraged parent prompts middle school administrator to pull ttfn from library shelf.
Full story.