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calsfoundation@cals.org
calsfoundation@cals.org
CALS Banned Books Week
October 1-7, 2023
Join us for our 12th annual Banned Books Week at CALS, as we celebrate the battle against censorship! This year’s event focuses on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Maureen Corrigan, chief NPR book Critic, chose this as one of five banned books everyone should read, and as Ernest Hemingway said, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” This book has been challenged repeatedly due to its lack of “moral” characters and language.
Banned Books Week is the annual celebration of the freedom to read. The event is sponsored by a coalition of organizations dedicated to free expression, including American Booksellers for Free Expression, American Library Association, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Amnesty International USA, Association of University Presses, Authors Guild, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), Freedom to Read Foundation, Index on Censorship, National Book Foundation, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Council of Teachers of English, PEN America, People For the American Way Foundation, PFLAG, and Project Censored. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Banned Books Week also receives generous support from HarperCollins Publishers and Penguin Random House.
CALS Banned Books Week is sponsored by the Fred K. Darragh Jr. Foundation.
Unite Against Book Bans is a national initiative to empower readers everywhere to stand together in the fight against censorship. Take action and defend the right to read for all Americans.
October 1 @ 8:00 pm
Learn More
Six Bridges Book Festival: Maureen Corrigan on Banned Books
For more than twenty years, Maureen Corrigan has been the book critic for NPR’s Fresh Air. She is also a columnist for the Washington Post as well as the Nicky and Jamie Grant Distinguished Professor of the Practice in Literary Criticism at Georgetown University, where her courses are very popular and her lectures have been described as “brilliant,” “hilarious,” “passionate,” and “eloquent.” She is the author of Leave Me Alone,
10th Annual Banned Books Writing Contest
Construct a short narrative that illustrates true, supportive friendship, where one character is daring to achieve something despite a very large obstacle. The story should feature or mention at least three characters. Please do not indicate or specify how the story illustrates friendship, it should be evident. This should be one episode of what could possibly be a larger story.
Entries will be judged on flow, originality, and strength of character/character voice. Humor is appreciated.
Crazy Free Books
Guess what’s back? The CRAZY FREE BOOKS promotion!
This year, for Banned Books Week we’re giving away 50 copies of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Starting October 2, if you’d like a copy, please send a message to SixBridgesBookFest@cals.org with Crazy Free Books in the subject.
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