Celebration of Banned Books Week events

Shared with permission from Jim's Literary Soapbox.

Stoxen Library’s “Celebration of Banned Books” week begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17, with a panel discussion about the First Amendment and freedom of speech. The panel, moderated by DSU history professor Frank Varney and DSU political science professor Steven Doherty, features Jack McDonald, an attorney in Bismarck; Christine Kujawa, chair of the Intellectual Freedom committee of the North Dakota Library Association; and Kathy Cline, librarian from Beulah public schools.

In addition to a general discussion about the importance of the First Amendment in a free society, the panel will talk about specific incidents in which books have been challenged in North Dakota, including the 2008 decision to remove Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil from the Beulah High School library following complaints from parents that the “sinful” book “implants thought patterns that are absolutely against what we try to instill in our students here at Beulah High.”

The discussion, jointly sponsored by the Celebration of Banned Books committee and the Constitution Day committee, is slated to run for 60 minutes, with time for questions afterward, in Beck Auditorium on the DSU campus. Refreshments will be available.

Rita Ennen, director of Stoxen Library, said that the right to read is vital to a free society, adding, “We are very excited to hear from some North Dakota warriors in the fight against censorship.”

Other events for this year’s Celebration of Banned Books will include three “read outs” (public readings from challenged or censored books) and two book discussions. The “read outs” will be in Stoxen Library at 7 p.m. on Monday (Sept. 23) and at noon on Wednesday (Sept. 25) and Friday (Sept. 27).

The first book discussion, hosted by Kathy Hanna and Renae Ekstrand on Tuesday (Sept. 24), will cover Call of the Wild and a selection of children’s books, while the second, hosted by Ms. Ennen on Thursday (Sept. 26), will cover Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Both discussions will be in Stoxen Library at 7 p.m.