The 30th Anniversary of Banned Books Week

This year, from September 30th to October 6th, libraries across the state of Florida will be participating in the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week. The purpose of Banned Books Week is to draw attention to the fact that many books have been challenged or banned throughout history, for reasons of content deemed by some to be inappropriate. This is not just a part of history, either. Did you know that books continue to be challenged today? Some notable recent examples are the Harry Potter books and The Hunger Games. Here you can read the American Library Association's list of the ten most frequently challenged books of 2011.

Floridians might be interested to know that two of the most challenged authors of the 20th century have lived in Key West, FL: Ernest Hemingway and Judy Blume. 

Hemingway, a Key West resident during winters in the 1930s, is now regarded as an important American author whose work has significant literary merits. However, he also faced constant censorship for his realistic portrayals of warfare and human relationships. As this article relates, in 1941 the U.S. Post Office refused to mail copies of For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway's novel about the Spanish Civil War, because of the book's references to Communism. Another Hemingway novel, A Farewell To Arms, was banned in countries around the world for its frank depiction of violence and sexuality. The novel has also been challenged, according to the ALA, for allegedly exemplifying "a belief in a universe indifferent to people's suffering." The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway's modernist novel about American expatriates living in Spain, has also been banned in several countries, and is #18 on the ALA's list of the 100 most banned classic works. 

Judy Blume, who currently resides in Key West, has written many best-selling novels for children and young adults. Her novels explore the topics of adolescence, sexuality, family and school issues, bullying, and other subjects that many young people have related to. Yet despite the fact that she, like Hemingway, is an author of novels that have been recognized for their literary qualities, Blume has also had many of her books challenged and banned due to their depiction of adolescent life. In this interview from 2008, Blume says that defying censorship is important to her, because she feels that what she writes about is an honest reflection of what young readers deal with in their everyday lives. Five of Blume's books were on the ALA's list of the 100 most challenged books of 1990-1999. In fact, as a literary leader in the anti-censorship movement, Blume has been a participant in Banned Books Week activities. Here is a clip filmed during Banned Books Week's Virtual Read-Out of 2011, where Blume comments on her views about censorship.

Here is a Pinterest board that Amanda Sarra, Director of Library Services at Everglades University in Boca Raton, FL, created as a way to publicize Banned Books Week. Pinterest is a tool that libraries can use to make creative visual interpretations of what Banned Books Week represents.

You can read more here about 2012's Banned Books Week. If you have ideas for how libraries can participate in this year's Banned Books Week, or if you are wondering about how your library can participate, contact FLA's Intellectual Freedom Committee chairperson, Robin Shader, at rshader@baycountyfl.gov.