GNCRT Banned Books Week and Freedom to Read Week

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Banned Books Week 2020

GNCRT, IFRT, and Image Comics team-up to celebrate Banned Books Week with Webinar Series
ALA Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table and the ALA Intellectual Freedom Round Table are celebrating Banned Books Week with Image Comics by producing a week-long webinar series featuring creators and librarians in conversation on topics centered around censorship and intellectual freedom. Libraries around the country are invited to welcome their staff and patrons for these exciting conversations during Banned Books Week, the annual celebration of the freedom to read, which runs from September 27 – October 3. Each webinar will be a freewheeling discussion on creativity, freedom of expression, the (sometimes recent) history of banned and challenged comics, and how access to information is a fundamental right library patrons can expect librarians to defend across the world.

Presented by the ALA Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table and the ALA Intellectual Freedom Round Table with Image Comics.

  • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 -- Censorship: The Comics Code Authority & Rating Systems - Alex Cox (Image Comics) in conversation with Sarah Hartman-Caverly (Intellectual Freedom Round Table) on the history of the Comics Code Authority and its impact on comics censorship. This discussion will also touch on how current ratings systems and library classifications can impact readership.
  • TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 -- Banned through Comics Metadata!? - Librarians Allison Bailund (San Diego State University), Hallie Clawson (University of Washington Information School), and Rotem Anna Diamant (Canada Comics Open Library) in conversation with Brittany Netherton (Darien Public Library) on how the metadata of comics can limit and grant access to comics. From proper crediting of creators to the details of a catalog record - comics metadata creates access.
  • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 -- Black People in Comics - Valentine De Landro (Bitch Planet, X-Factor), Johnnie Christmas (Tartatus, Sheltered) and Chuck Brown (Bitter Root) in conversation with Tamela Chambers (Black Caucus American Library Association) on how Black people have been historically portrayed in comics, from the obstacles of integrating Black characters into mainstream and superhero comics to present day works, issues Black creators face working in the comics industry, and the importance of non-white characters existing on the comics page.
  • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 -- (Un)Welcome to the Comics Industry - It's not just libraries that have banned comics - sometimes it's the comics industry itself. Chloe Ramos (Image Comics), Sina Grace (Self Obsessed, Not My Bag), Lauren McCubbin (Moonstruck, SFSX), and Kelly Sue DeConnick (Bitch Planet, Captain Marvel) in conversation with Dan Wood (Escondido Public Library) will discuss how harassment serves as a form of censorship within the industry by creating unsafe and unwelcoming environments, and how awareness of these issues is important for librarians to understand.
  • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2 -- Comics: “Are These Real Books?” - Charles Soule (Undiscovered Country, Daredevil) in conversation with Matthew Noe (GNCRT President-Elect) on why comics so often wind up on annual most challenged books lists, what comics are most often challenged, and what you can do to overcome negative opinions of comics.

When you’re not attending one of these exciting webinars, we invite you to participate in Escape the Dead End of Censorship!, an ALA Intellectual Freedom RoundTable #BannedBooksWeek 2020 virtual escape room adventure, where you can demonstrate your knowledge of intellectual freedom by solving three clues and earn some digital swag for social media bragging rights!

Play Escape the Dead End of Censorship! (image-enhanced version via Google Forms)
Play Escape the Dead End of Censorship! (text-only version via Google Forms)

Freedom to Read Week 2020

In February we teamed up with our Intellectual Freedom Round Table and International Relations Round Table colleagues as well as with our friends to the north the Canadian Book & Periodical Council’s Freedom of Expression Committee to celebrate Canada's Freedm to Read Week with this webinar featuring Mariko Tamaki with Michelle Arbuckle (Freedom of Expression Committee co-chair) and Angela Ocaña (Youth Services Supervisor, Eugene Public Library) as they discuss censorship, comics, intellectual freedom, and why the juxtaposed award winning / most banned image of comics and graphic novels continues.

Banned Books Week 2019

We teamed up with IFRT and Image in 2019 to bring members another series of webinars. Playlist below:

Banned Books Week 2018