The 27th Annual Banned Books Week Vigil, featuring speakers and games, light refreshments and door prizes and giveaways, is scheduled Thursday, Sept. 26, on the first floor of Carlson Library.
The event that celebrates the right to read and think freely begins at 9 a.m. and ends after the 4:30 p.m. musical talk. A new 20-minute presentation begins each half hour.
Dr. Paulette D. Kilmer, a retired UToledo faculty member and the coordinator of the UToledo Banned Books Coalition, is one of the speakers at the 27th Annual Banned Books Week Vigil on Sept. 26 at Carlson Library.
UToledo students, staff, faculty and community members are invited to the festival that recognizes the vital role reading plays in democracy and is part of the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week, which launched in 1982.
Thousands of schools, libraries, and other groups will host a local event around the the American Library Association’s 2024 Banned Books Week slogan, “Freed Between the Lines.”
“When we read, we interpret,” said Dr. Paulette D. Kilmer, a retired UToledo faculty member and the coordinator of the UToledo Banned Books Coalition. “Our experiences shape what the words teach us about the world around us. The author cannot control how we will read the story, and that is why we must never let anyone censor our access to news, books, art, music, theater or other forms of creative expression.”
The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom reports that challenges demanding books be removed from shelves increased by 65 percent in 2023 compared to 2022. Ohio and 16 other states tried to ban more than 100 different titles. In all, across the nation, attacks on books in public libraries rose by 92 percent and comprised 46 percent of all book challenges, Kilmer said.
“Reading helps us negotiate reality and find the courage to venture beyond the safe confines of the walls that rise if we embrace superstition, hatred and social injustice,” she said. “Our 27th Annual Banned Books Week Vigil celebrates books, reading and our right to think for ourselves and let others do the same. We offer snacks and food to inspire our guests to feel connected, welcome, liked and hopeful. Breaking bread together builds trust and starts conversations.”
Light refreshments will include bagels at 9 a.m., little sandwiches at noon and pizza at 3:30 p.m. as well as light snacks (candy, cookies and chips) throughout the event.
The 27th Annual Banned Books Week Vigil will open with a welcome from Tom Atwood, a professor and dean of University Libraries, and continue with the following presentations:
• 9:30 a.m. — “‘Crawling Into my Soul,’ Flannery O’Connor’s Faith and Fiction,” by Jodi Jameson, an associate professor and nursing librarian at Mulford Library.
• 10 a.m. — “Banning Desire – How Love Poetry Gets Turned,” by Jonie McIntire, Poet Laureate of Lucas County.
• 10:30 a.m. — “Gender Queer: Banning ‘Woke’ Gender,” by Dr. Sharon Barnes, associate professor and chair of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, and WGST student Amber Rank.
• 11 a.m. — “Shocking! Disgusting! The Worst Advertising of the Century!” video presentation.
• 11:30 a.m. — “Banned Books Un-American,” by Warren Woodberry, Toledo author and educator.
• Noon — “The Silent Treatment: Reading, Writing, Resisting,” Dr. Linda Smith Lecture: Dr. Jim Ferris, a professor and the Ability Center Endowed Chair in Disability Studies and poet and performance artist.
• 1 p.m. — Banned Books Jeopardy!
• 1:30 p.m. — “The Constitution, Electoral College and Silencing the People,” Barbara Mann, a UToledo professor emerita in the Jesup Scott Honors College.
• 2 p.m. — “Banning Books or Eroding Children’s Sense of Identity?” Saadia Farooq, a graduate student of Bowling Green State University.
• 2:30 p.m. — “Guess Why This Book was Banned!” Autumn Vasquez, a media communication senior and writer for the Toledo Free Press.
• 3 p.m. — “Banned Books That Became Movies: Gender, Censorship and Cultural Impact,” Dr. Jeanne Kusino, Distinguished University Lecturer in Women’s and Gender Studies.
• 3:30 p.m. — “Bad Taste? Forbidden T-Shirts,” Dr. Paulette D. Kilmer, Banned Books Vigil coordinator.
• 4 p.m. — “Censoring Imagination: Is Science Fiction and Fantasy bad for us?” Dr. Daniel Compora a professor in the Department of English Language and Literature.
• 4:30 p.m. — “Balanced Literacy Banned,” Risa Cohen, director of Sing into Reading.
Free books, door prizes and light refreshments will be provided, as well as extra credit vouchers for student attendees. The University of Toledo Department of Communication and Media, the Jesup Scott Honors College and the University of Toledo General Libraries sponsor the Banned Books Week Vigil.
“We want everybody to have fun,” Kilmer said. “Food and trinkets bring smiles, generating feelings of camaraderie. We are not alone. Through reading, we expand our circle of awareness and through kindness, we discover that more unites us than divides us. We feel very grateful to the campus and community donors who make our event possible.”
For more information about the 27th anniversary of the UToledo Banned Books Vigil, visit the UToledo Banned Books Coalition website or contact Kilmer at pkilmer@rockets.utoledo.edu.
