Belated Banned Books Week 2021

Shame on me!  I missed Banned Books Week 2021, held this year between September 26 and October 2.  In its honor, I will repeat (with some edits) my Banned Weeks Post from 2017.  This year's theme was "Censorship Divides Us"

So sad that everything I said in 2017 (noting some updates) is still true.

And now the post, with some edits (including a more recent banned books list than I had in the 2017 post.)

It is said that the Chinese symbol for "crisis" combines their symbols for "danger" and "opportunity".  It's not true, but it sounds good.

It seems we live in a state of constant crisis, which is why I try to keep world events out of my blog.  But it's hard.  Disasters all over the world.  Political crises, with our world edging closer to possible destruction.  Climate change.

In the United States, everything has become political.  We are all, it seems, in crisis mode, with "breaking news" appearing on our television screens multiple times a day.  We are even questioning some of our core values, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  And then there is reading.

Reading is safe, right?  Not so fast.

One article I read recently, about our local public libraries, point out that libraries are political, some more than others.  This is true, and we should also keep in mind that libraries are in the forefront of fights against censorship.

NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month (which I have participated in several times), sent its participants an email several months before this post was written.  It reads, in part:

As a creative writing nonprofit, we’re not a political organization. We don’t endorse candidates or support any particular party. In an ideal world, we would focus only on empowering people to write.

Yet we find ourselves in a time where people’s ability to tell their stories—and even to safely exist—is at stake.

NaNoWriMo strives to be a gateway and sanctuary for people’s voices. Our guiding belief is that every person’s story matters, and we celebrate the inclusion of all religions, races, genders, sexualities, and countries of origin. We help people find a safe space to be who they are—creators, storytellers, and world changers.....

So now, an organization devoted to encouraging people to write, and express themselves, finds themselves having to take a political position.

You might be surprised to know what books you have read that have been targets of censorship or outright attempts to ban them.  It isn't just this year, or last.  This is the "top 10" list of 2010 (quoting from the ALA website:)

Top 10 for 2010

Out of 348 challenges recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
   Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
   Reasons: offensive language, racism, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence
3. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
   Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, sexually explicit
4. Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
   Reasons: drugs, offensive language, sexually explicit
5. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
   Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, violence
6. Lush, by Natasha Friend
   Reasons: drugs, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
7. What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
   Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
8. Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich
   Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint
9. Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie
   Reasons: homosexuality, sexually explicit
10. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
    Reasons: religious viewpoint, violence

I've read several of these.  Many are considered classics.  Judy Blume has appeared on this list, as has John Greene, just to name two best selling authors beloved by children/teens.

UPDATE:  The 10 most challenged books of 2020.  As clickbait writers like to say, "Some of them will surprise you!"

If I were an author, I would love nothing better than to be in the company on this list.

How can you participate in Banned Books Week?  It takes a visit to a local library, or, better yet, reading a book on the list. Banned Books Week may be over, but our fight is not.  Because, dear reader, words have power.  Even the words of this blog.

That's why authoritarian regimes practice censorship. They know knowledge is power.  That's why freedom of speech (including freedom to write) is so important.  We must be exposed to different viewpoints and not stay in our little bubbles (as comforting as it might be nowadays).

Thank you to the courageous librarians and others who fight censorship, and those who fight to keep our freedoms to read as we choose.