The Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB) celebrated Banned Books Week with a series of essays by YA authors called “Getting Banned.”
The authors in the Getting Banned essays have all had their work banned or challenged at some point. Follow these links to read essays by Ron Koertge, Ellen Hopkins, Susan Patron, Sonya Sones and Lauren Myracle. LARB‘s YA editor Cecil Castellucci explained: “YA authors are on the front lines of today’s censorship battle.”
The web publication will also publish a two-part essay by English professor Loren Glass about the 1960’s obscenity trials Grove Press faced for publishing William Burroughs‘ Naked Lunch and Henry Miller‘s The Tropic of Cancer. Nickel and Dimed author Barbara Ehrenreich will also publish a Banned Books Week essay on Saturday.
Even as the week draws to a close, there are still many events where you can celebrate Banned Books Week. The ALA has been uploading videos for a virtual read-out. The National Coalition Against Censorship also set up a tent at the Brooklyn Book Festival so that attendees could also participate in video read-outs. Hopkins appeared at a Banned Books Week event at the NYPL‘s Grand Central branch.