Booksellers Share Creative Ideas for Banned Books Week

For this year's celebration of Banned Books Week, September 29 - October 6, many independent booksellers are planning special events and displays that celebrate free speech and emphasize the importance of protecting customers' First Amendment rights. Plans include the tried and true, and others, such as King's Books' "Banned Books Slut Social," are a first.

"We are gratified to hear of the plans that so many bookstores are making for this year's Banned Books Week," said Chris Finan, president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE). "Raising awareness about the importance of protecting free speech is important both for the nation and for booksellers who may find themselves confronting their own free speech controversies some day."

For Erica Eisdorfer, manager of Bull's Head Bookshop in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a University of North Carolina Student Store, that some day is now: the Carolina Women's Center -- a group that is "powerful and well funded," according to Eisdorfer -- is trying to get Bull's Head to stop carrying Playboy magazine. As a result, she believes the store may become the target of picketing. The bookstore has no plans to stop stocking Playboy, however. "The director of the Women's Center went to the Chancellor who said it was a free speech issue," Eisdorfer said. "I've seen this happen before, and we've been picketed before." Eisdorfer will be speaking about the issue at a panel discussion at UNC on September 7.

The current controversy at the Bull's Head Bookshop brings added meaning to this year's Banned Books Week. Eisdorfer said, "We will make a display with as many banned books as we can, and place placards explaining why each book was banned."

Sweet Pea Flaherty, events coordinator at King's Books in Tacoma, Washington, said, "This will be our third year doing programming for Banned Books Week (beyond just a display). Last year, the local ACLU chapter became co-sponsor. This year, we also have interest from the four local library systems and a writer's group.... We also work with a local letterpress printer to produce a broadside for BBW."

The bookstore will also be hosting an author event on September 28 featuring ABFFE's Finan, whose latest book, From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act, was published this past spring by Beacon Press.

Every year, King's Books creates a window display: more than half of the front window is covered with black paper. Little squares are cut into it so passersby can peer in to see the banned books.

Several other Banned Books Week events have also become yearly traditions at King's Books:

• A panel on censorship and intellectual freedom (usually featuring a banned author), a public school librarian, and a public librarian;

• Film Night: one film about book censorship; one film that was censored (the films have not been chosen yet);

• Storytime With Banned Books: "We read picture books, such as In the Night Kitchen and King & King in a storytime format and discuss why they are challenged";

• A Book Arts Auction to raise money for Tacoma Public School Libraries. "At our first BBW, we learned Tacoma school libraries are zero-funded for book acquisition. So, we do this to raise money for schools -- with a live auctioneer," Flaherty said; and

• Banned Book Club Meeting, a monthly book club that reads only banned or challenged books.

In addition, the ACLU is sponsoring performer Holly Gwinn Graham who will do readings of banned books along with songs. And Kings Books will be hosting a "Banned Book Slut Social" at a cocktail lounge where people will talk about their favorite banned books and sip on a banned author cocktail (that will be debuting that night).

"We started doing [Banned Book Week] programming partially in response to Section 215 of the Patriot Act," Flaherty said. "Then, in the past two years, we've had several neighboring school districts who have banned or challenged books. It's important to create a dialogue about these challenges and put them in a broader national context. It's not an isolated incident with one freaky parent challenging a book. It's something that happens every week across the country. If there's no public furor over this, it can happen too easily."

In the weeks leading up to its annual "Banned Book Night," Read Between the Lynes in Woodstock, Illinois, devotes its front window and much of its interior display areas to showcasing banned books with placards explaining why the books were banned or challenged. Read Between the Lynes' Josh K. Stevens explained that, behind the counter and placed around the store, there are also listings of select banned books for customers to peruse as they shop. For the store's third annual "Banned Book Night" on October 5, people are invited to come to the store and read a passage from their favorite banned or challenged book.

"As independent booksellers, I feel that it is especially important for us to make sure that people are able to voice their opinions through the written word, and they should not have to fear censorship," Stevens said. "Celebrating Banned Books Week makes me feel like, as a bookseller, I'm doing my job to make sure that everyone can read what they want, regardless of subject matter or content."

Denver's Tattered Cover Book Store and the Colorado Freedom of Expression Foundation are co-sponsoring the 7th annual Banned Books Week Essay Contest. Colorado teens in grades 7 to 12 are invited to submit an original essay on the First Amendment's relationship to books. Winners are chosen in three groups: grades 7 and 8, grades 9 and 10, and grades 11 and 12. First place winners receive a $75 cash prize; second place winners, $50; and third place winners, $25. The school libraries of the first place winners receive a $200 grant for the purchase of books from the Tattered Cover. "The contest has grown over the years, and last year we received 260 entries," said Heather Duncan, Tattered Cover's director of marketing.

Banned Books Week displays, bookmarks, and merchandise will also be featured at each of Tattered Cover's three locations.

"As a bookstore that strongly supports the First Amendment and the amazingly diverse world of ideas, it is critical that we continue to draw attention to the attempts by some to ban the ideas, writing, or speech of others," Duncan stressed. "It is an ongoing challenge to educate our customers about the potential threats to their chosen reading materials, and we welcome the opportunity that Banned Books Week provides." --David Grogan