Book Bans and Challenges on the Rise

Censorship is on the rise again across America, and those challenging books are targeting BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ authors. What's changed in the recent landscape that has made some people see books about identity—especially those written by marginalized people representing their own race, sexuality, and religion as threats that need to be removed from the shelves? A discussion spanning publishing, librarianship, and education featuring Michael Bronski, author of A Queer History of the United States, Anne Irza-Leggat (Candlewick Press), Akunna Eneh (Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library), and Laura M. Jiménez, PhD (Boston University). Presented in partnership by the Boston Public Library and the Boston Book Festival.

To attend in-person, please register on the Event website. To attend online over Zoom webinar, please register here: https://boston-public-library.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2scnRrAVRBa1Hb72mbZAsw.

Akunna Eneh is the Programs and Community Outreach Librarian for the Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library in Nubian Square. She began her librarian career with the Boston Public Library almost fourteen years ago at the same branch as the Teen Librarian. In Eneh's current role, she connects neighborhood organizations with the library to help increase resource sharing in the community. 

Anne Irza-Leggat is the Educational Marketing Manager at Candlewick Press. For 26 years she has been connecting with teachers and librarians facing book challenges and sharing information in support of Candlewick titles, along with other resources to help them defend their students’ and patrons’ right to make their own reading choices. She is currently part of a small working group of children’s publishers working to provide similar support more widely.

Dr. Laura M. Jiménez is currently the Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion at the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Her scholarship focuses on the representation of marginalized individuals, communities, and history in children’s literature with a special interest in graphic novel reading comprehension. Her book reviews, and calls for social justice in children’s literature can be found on her blog, booktoss.org and her frequent Tweets @booktoss.

Michael Bronski is an independent scholar, journalist, and writer who has been involved in social justice movements since the 1960s. He has been active in gay liberation as a political organizer, writer, publisher and theorist since 1969. He is the author of numerous books including A Queer History of the United States (Beacon Press) which won the 2011 American Library Association Stonewall Israel Fishman Award for Best Non- Fiction. He is Professor of the Practice in Professor of the Practice in Activism and Media in the Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Harvard University.

About the BPL's COVID-19 health and safety protocols:

• Program attendees are recommended to wear masks covering the nose and mouth.
• Read the BPL's latest COVID-19 guidelines for visiting the library.
• Program performer will remove their mask during the program.

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