September 25th to Oct 2nd is the American Library Association’s Annual Banned Book Week. San Francisco participates this year with a commemoration of one of the most frequently banned classic books of our time, “To Kill a Mockingbird”. On Tuesday, Sept. 28, SFPL and former Chron Book section editor Oscar Villalon will host a special 50th anniversary event of the publication of Harper Lee’s controversial novel.
Tuesday’s event will include a screening of a documentary by director Mary McDonagh Murphy, Hey, Boo: To Kill A Mockingbird & Harper Lee, followed by a book discussion with San Francisco authors Jewelle Gomez, Andrew Sean Greer and Michelle Richmond. The event begins at 6 pm Tuesday in the Koret Auditorium at the Main Library, 100 Larkin St.
According to the press release from SFPL, “Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted banning of books across the United States”.
Also part of Banned Book Week is a week long online contest for teens called the Banned Books Blog Challenge. From September 27th to October 1st, SFPL’s “teen blog” will spotlight titles that have been banned across the country and post a different related challenge question each day.
Library card holding kids the ages of 13 and 18 can respond to the questions and be entered in a drawing to win a Flip camera. The drawing will take place on October 8th.
