Read Dangerously

By Clare Shanahan '24, October 13, 2023

Banned book event puts challenged literature in the spotlight.

Katharine Kittredge, Professor of Literatures in English, read at the Banned Books event, and focused on children's literature. (Photo by Clare Shanahan)

(Photo by Clare Shanahan)

Across the country, book bans have been one the biggest topics of discussion among educators, as the fight over freedom of ideas has taken center stage.

Against that backdrop, members of the Ithaca College community gathered in the Handwerker Gallery on October 3 for the college’s annual Banned Book Read-Out, where individuals read excerpts from books that have been banned in certain areas of the country.

“Intellectual freedom is very dear to me and I hope it is dear to everybody else and so all of us who love books can come together and celebrate that freedom,” said Communications Librarian Cathy Michael, who has organized the event since its inception in 2013. “I’m also concerned that a lot of the things that are being banned and censored are of the LGBTQ+ community or of minority voices and we can’t have those taken from schools and libraries. It’s just not right, so this is a way to speak out and stand together.”

According to Pen America, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise awareness for the protection of free expression in the United States, 56% of books banned in schools in the first half of 2023 dealt with race, racism, characters of color, or LGBTQ+ characters or themes.

“One of the reasons I wanted to read children’s literature is because the vast majority of the books that are being banned and challenged right now are children’s literature.”

Katharine Kittredge, Professor of Literatures in English

Readers included IC students, faculty, and staff and members of the broader local community, including representatives from the local chapter of Amnesty International, which co-hosted the event.

Katharine Kittredge, Professor of Literatures in English, read from Kelly Yang’s “Front Desk,” a book about a child whose parents immigrated to the United States and who began working the front desk at the hotel her parents managed when she was 10 years old.

Communications Librarian Cathy Michael, has organized the event since its inception in 2013. (Photo by Clare Shanahan)

“One of the reasons I wanted to read children’s literature is because the vast majority of the books that are being banned and challenged right now are children’s literature,” said Kittredge, who teaches a course in children’s literature at IC. “One of the things I find really beautiful about this book is the way that it captures the tensions that take place in the family when they are being besieged by so much.”

Alison True ’23, who graduated from Ithaca College in May and now works in the library, read a passage from George Orwell’s “1984.”

“I found myself not relating to the book until this moment because it kind of [gave] a general feeling of ‘Oh if this was happening to me, this is what I would feel, this is how I would react,’” she said. “Then it kind of made me realize I want to make a change in the world more than I realize.”

Michael said while the topic of banned books is not an easy one to deal with it is still a very important one, especially at a private institution like Ithaca College.

“It could be a little more difficult for school and public librarians to have an event like this because maybe there might be somebody making more of an attempt to oppose it,” Michael said.