In an effort to raise awareness and increase education on the first amendment and censorship, the Cranston Public Library along with the ACLU of Rhode Island held a program at William Hall library that featured Rhode Island authors reading short passages from their favorite banned books.

“Banned Books Week 2018 is September 23 to 29,” said library director Ed Garcia prior to the event. “It brings together the entire book community-librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types – in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.”

Serving as moderator for the evening, Nicole Cordier, who is the Development and Communication Associate for ACLU, thanked William Hall library, the attendees and the readers who “enthusiastically agreed to participate in the evening.”

“It is a diverse group of readers and readings,” she said.

Adrianne Gallo Girard, branch librarian at William Hall, emphasized the importance of freedom of speech in all formats.

“We must listen, we must read. It is very important to librarians everywhere that we celebrate this week,” she said.

Steven Brown, Director of the ACLU, spoke about the First Amendment.

“War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength,” he opened with a famous quote from Orwell’s 1984.

He stressed the importance of speaking out.

“It has never been more critical,” Brown said. “We must emphasize that even though banned books don’t happen here, we encounter many forms of censorship taking place in our communities on a daily basis.”

Each author gave a brief description of why they selected the books they were reading from, and what they meant to them personally.

Michael Willhoite started the evening by reading William Faulkner’s The Hamlet.

Jean Walton read from “Despised and Rejected” by Rose Allatini. Her reading spoke about the topics of pacifism and gay relationships.

Mike Stanton read the poem “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg. He shared that Ginsberg wrote the poem after taking peyote for the first time.

Mary Cappello offered readings from Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” and “Another Country” by James Baldwin. Cappello said that libraries themselves are censoring books in a way called “pulping,” which is when they remove books that are old or have not been checked out for a while.

Adam Braver read from Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5, which is still banned in certain parts of the country.

Eleni Sikelianos read several pieces of poetry written by women including Sappho, Gwendolyn Brooks and others.

"These books were not just banned, but they were suppressed," she said.

Silelianos read a list of seven words (entitlement, diversity, fetus, transgender, evidence-based, science-based and vulnerable) that the CDC (Center for Disease Control) was forbidden to use by President Trump in preparing their budget.

Ricky Moody read from “Black Boy” by Richard Wright, a passage that had a profound impact on him ever since he first read it when he was 14 years old.

The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted with removal or restricted in libraries and schools. For more information about Banned Books Week please visit the American Library Association at www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/banned.

For more information about library programs and events, visit www.cranstonlibrary.org.