Banned Books Week this year starts on September 27, and we are ready to celebrate at the Writing Center. The American Library Association is highlighting the ways books bring people together and the divisive ways that censorship pushes people apart. Ideas, knowledge, and the sharing of divergent stories allow us to come together and learn. When we listen to one another, we grow as individuals and as a society. When voices are silenced, ignorance prevails.
What is your favorite banned book? While I first read my most favorite banned book over twenty years ago, the lessons, the ideas, and the writing found in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye are with me to this day. Books have the power to engage us with new knowledge and ignite change from within. What fears are strengthened when censorship is viewed as a legitimate source of control? What voices and ideas are lost in the silence? What if your favorite book had been banned and you never had the chance to read it? How would your life be different? Each year, the American Library Association publishes a list of books that are sought after for banning. The list grows, but we have the freedom to stop it.
Please join the Writing Center this September and October as we celebrate banned books. We will have photos, quotes, and trivia on our Facebook and Instagram pages for inspiration. We are also holding a writing contest where students submit a 500 word or less short story, in response to the prompt: Books unite us. Censorship divides us. If you are interested in learning more about the contest or banned books in general, please email Stefanie Wielkopolan for more info. She can be reached at: stefanie.wielkopolan@waynesburg.edu
Check out the lists of most challenged books here
For more info about the banning of books, check out this chat with author Jason Reynolds
Learn more about the Writing Center at Waynesburg University
