Events
Reading, Power, and Freedom
DateSeptember 26, 2023
Across the country, book bans are barring access to the robust exchange of ideas in the classroom, library holdings, knowledge about our collective history, and the lessons of our complex American Story. Teachers, professors, and librarians face increasing restrictions, and our society faces diminishing opportunities to be fully informed, functional, and mutually respectful.
What are the fears driving these bans? What vibrant knowledge and broader freedoms do we all stand to lose? Join Mellon Foundation President Dr. Elizabeth Alexander for a conversation about the power of unfettered reading, and how we might mitigate efforts to undermine it throughout the United States.
For the conversation, Dr. Alexander connects with Emily Drabinski, president of the American Library Association and associate professor, Queens College, Lisa Lucas, senior vice president and publisher for Pantheon & Schocken Books at Penguin Random House, and Tressie McMillan Cottom, professor, UNC Chapel Hill and columnist, New York Times.
This event was originally livestreamed on September 26, 2023.
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Emily Drabinski
Associate Professor
Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies