Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Banned Books Week - USA 2006

The American Libraries Association website has posted lots of interesting material in anticipation of the upcoming Banned Books Week in the United States.

It will be held September 23–30, 2006 and is intended to support the values of intellectual freedom.

It "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".

Google Book Search has also created a special page about banned books:

"To Kill a Mockingbird. Of Mice and Men. The Great Gatsby. 1984. It's hard to imagine a world without these extraordinary literary classics, but every year there are hundreds of attempts to remove great books from libraries and schools. In fact, according to the American Library Association, 42 of 100 books recognized by the Radcliffe Publishing Course as the best novels of the 20th century have been challenged or banned."

In Canada, various organizations associated with the book trades mark the Freedom to Read Week every year. The next time will be February 25–March 3, 2007.

One of the resources produced by the sponsors of the week is a list that provides information on more than 100 books that have been challenged in Canada in the past few years. Most challenges have to do with sex, homosexuality, religion or race.

Tags: censorship

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:07 pm

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