September 29, 2005 | NYPL's Donnell Media Center | NYC

Judy Blume, Deborah Hautzig, Robert Lipsyte, Walter Dean Myers, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Peter Sís, Rita Williams-Garcia

This program is free and open to the public; seating is limited.

A live webcast is now available from the New York Public Library.

Award-winning children's and young adult writers will read from banned and challenged books to sound the alarm about a recent surge in attacks on books in schools and public libraries, where librarians have had to fight to keep the likes of Harry Potter, The Color Purple, Native Son, and Heather Has Two Mommies on the shelves and available to young readers. The program, organized by the National Coalition Against Censorship, PEN American Center, and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, and hosted by The New York Public Library, is held in conjunction with “Free Speech Zone," an installation by Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese at Library’s Donnell Center. The event marks Banned Books Week (September 26-30), an annual celebration of the freedom to read.

The “Free Speech Zone” readers are prominent writers, whose books have helped millions of kids and adolescents understand the world around them. Yet these books are routinely taken out of libraries and erased from reading lists. Judy Blume’s novels are frequently attacked for being “immoral,” “profane,” and “offensive.” Sexual content and language have prompted challenges to Robert Lipsyte’s coming-of-age novel One Fat Summer, Walter Dean Myers’s Fallen Angels and Monster, as well as to Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s Alice series. Gay subject matter has made Deborah Hautzig’s Hey, Dollface unpalatable to some parents’ groups. The mention of evolution has put Peter Sís’ book about Charles Darwin, The Tree of Life, on the list of controversial books together with Rita Williams-Garcia’s novels, whose realistic portrayal of young African Americans brings up subjects like rape and abortion.

A 10-minute talk by “Free Speech Zone” installation artists will precede the program. Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese have been collaborating for over 20 years on videos, interactive installations, limited-edition multiples, and artists' books. Their work dissects media through the manipulation of images and audio from print, television, the Internet, and radio. They are the recipients of numerous awards, including support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Jerome Foundation, Art Matters, Inc., the Puffin Foundation, and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

For more information, please call: (212) 334-1660, ext. 106 or (212) 807-6222.