Banned Books Week features stage performances and visualizations

Banned Books Week has never seemed more important. Book bans and challenges are on the rise across the country and, in some cases, finding their way into policy. Libraries are on the front lines in the defense—and celebration—of the freedom to read, learn, and have open access to books.

The Libraries is proud to partner again with University Theatre on this fall’s edition of Banned Books Onstage, a night of live scenes and monologues from contested books directed and performed by NC State students on Friday, Sept. 23 at 7:00 p.m. in Frank Thompson Hall (2241 Dunn Ave.). The event is free and open to the public; register to attend here.

Books that will have excerpts performed include Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews, and Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera.

In addition to Friday’s always-anticipated stage performance, the Libraries is hosting an immersive visualization experience in the Hill Library Visualization Studio throughout the week. Walk into an artistic interpretation of Guy Montag's home from Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 created by METRC Assistant Director Scott Summers, and learn more about current book challenges, censorship, and ways that people are fighting back.

The visualization is a drop-in event that runs from 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 19, Tuesday, Sept. 20, and Friday, Sept. 23, and is free and open to the public.

About Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week is a national event 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, GLAAD, 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.