Banned Books Week
During the last week of September every year, hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events.
Critics Revisit Library Incident that Paints Palin as Censor
NCAC Participating Organization the American Library Association has put together an article that addresses charges of book censorship by Sarah Palin as well as the incorrect alleged banned book list. Read the article here.
Tom Forsythe’s Food Chain Barbie
Tom Forsythe's Food Chain Barbie series taps into the twin currents of jaundice and hilarity that characterize his sometimes simple and sometimes maddeningly complex view of the world. In this series, the idealized commodity—Barbie—becomes our food, our nourishment. We blend, mix and confuse the ideal fantasy with the essence of our existence. Barbie may be only one of a great [...]
Resisting Homophobic Attacks on Education and the Arts
In communities all around the country, radical rightists are working to cleanse our institutions of ideas and discussion that do not conform to their own religious, social and political views. Attacking ideas and people for "promoting" homosexuality is a destructive but powerful strategy. It creates a climate of fear and intimidation, it taps into deeply-held prejudices, and almost inevitably precludes [...]
Homophobic Attacks on Schools and Libraries
Schools and libraries are the setting for many community censorship controversies. Teachers and librarians who seek to expose children to a wide range of ideas, to be sensitive to our cultural and religious diversity, and to encourage curiosity and critical thinking are most likely to be targets. Two books, Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman and Daddy's Roommate [...]
Blanche DuBois Meets the Copyright Cops
Blanche DuBois, the fragile, self-deluding southern belle in Tennessee Williams’s 1947 play, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” is one of the great tragic characters in American literature. But who owns Blanche, and can the holder of the copyright in “Streetcar” stop a creative artist from impersonating her, as the author and performer Mark Sam Rosenthal does in his recent performance piece, [...]
Homophobic Attacks on Artistic Expression
Attacks on artistic expression are proliferating at a frightening rate, and any connection with lesbian or gay matters brings campaigns for suppression. This censorship is affecting the visual and performing arts, museums and movies, television and art exhibits and it is occurring in small towns and big cities everywhere in the country. Last year in Cincinnati, Ohio, the owner, manager, [...]
Letter Opposing Challenges to ‘Nineteen Minutes’ by Jodi Picoult
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult was challenged by one parent who objected to sexual references, profanity, and violence, including bullying and suicide, in the book and asked that it be removed from the Beardstown Middle/High School library in Beardstown, IL. A committee comprised of teachers, a school principal, a librarian, and a school psychologist reviewed the book and recommended that it be retained in the high school adult fiction section of the school library. The school board voted to retain the book in the high school section of the library, but students are required to get parental permission to check it out.
Letter Opposing Removal of Books from YA Section of St. Louis Library
A local group, Citizens Against Pornography, and some community members objected to a dozen titles in the young adult section of the St. Louis County Libraries. The group has asked that the library impose restrictions on the books, such as using a "rating" system to classify books, or requiring that teens get written permission from a parent or guardian to check the books out. NCAC and ABFFE sent a following letter to the school board in response.