Students give voice to banned books

Every year, libraries join their voices with those of authors, publishers, booksellers, teachers, students, civil liberties activists and readers everywhere to defend our rights to read and write freely. Launched nationally in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries, Banned Books Week (Sept. 24-30) draws attention to censorship and connects people to resources to preserve our literary and personal freedoms.

Banned Books Onstage is the Libraries’ premiere event during National Banned Books Week. Talented NC State students will present scenes and monologues from banned and challenged books, including Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, which caused controversy on Duke University’s campus as the 2015 Common Experience selection. The performance will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hunt Library Teaching & Visualization Lab. This free, public event is co-presented by the NCSU Libraries, University Theatre, and NC State’s GLBT Center.

D. H. Hill Jr. will also feature a display of banned and challenged books on a special shelf by the Ask Us desk.

More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982 according to the American Library Association.