By: Elaine Anderson,
on 6/6/2012
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 2/24/2012
According to the Freedom to Read website: Freedom to Read Week is an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom, which is guaranteed them under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Freedom to Read Week is organized by the Freedom of Expression Committee of the Book and Periodical Council.
Freedom to Read Week is February 26 - March 3, 2012.
Each year a Canadian author is awarded the Writers' Union of Canada's 2012 Freedom to Read Award. This year's recipient is Lawrence Hill who was honoured because of "his reasoned and eloquent response to the threat to burn his novel The Book of Negroes," according to Greg Hollingshead, chair of the Writers Union.
The full story was covered in a past entry about Lawrence Hill. A Dutch group called Foundation Honor and Restore Victims of Slavery in Suriname had planned to burn Hill's book to protest the use of the word "negro" in the title. Ironically, the Book of Negroes' title comes from an actual historical document which recorded the names of 3,000 African slaves who were moved from New York to Nova Scotia, then to Africa.
It is not the first time the title has stirred controversy. The Book of Negroes was called Someone Knows My Name in the US and Australia, while in Quebec, it was given the name of the main character and titled Aminata.
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 1/18/2012
Posted without Comment from Wikipedia:
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 12/5/2011
Thanks to Amy, my counterpart at Fort Erie Public Library, who forwarded a link for The First Banned Books Video Calendar. Says Amy, "For years and years Finland had the highest literacy rate in the world, largely due to the fact that 99+ % of Finns were Lutherans, and the Lutherans made sure all children could read, so they could read Luther's catechism."
The Entresse Library in Espoo, Finland and FAIFE (IFLA Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression) have partnered to create this resource.
Following the tradition of the Advent calendar, each day between December 1st and December 24th a new window will open and a new book will be presented on several sites throughout the world.
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 11/2/2011
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 9/23/2011
Banned Books Week in the United States begins tomorrow and runs until October 1. For more information visit the Banned Books Week website.
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 8/17/2011
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 6/16/2011
The CBC reports that unless the name of Lawrence Hill's award-winning The Book of Negroes is changed, a Dutch group called Foundation Honor and Restore Victims of Slavery in Suriname is planning on burning the book to protest the use of the word "negro" in the title.
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 5/18/2011
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 4/29/2011
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 4/11/2011
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 3/10/2011
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 3/7/2011
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 2/17/2011
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 2/3/2011
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 1/28/2011
The Journal-Enquirer, North Central Connecticut's newspaper reported last week that The Enfield Public Library was faced with a hard decision. 
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 1/24/2011
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 1/10/2011
IN this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary ‘Pike County’ dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a hap- hazard fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech. I make this explanation for the reason that without it many0 Comments on Is Mark Twain Rolling Over in His Grave? as of 1/1/1900Add a Comment
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 1/3/2011
FT Tech Hub reports on the visit Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, made to China. Zuckerberg, who founded the social networking site along with fellow students while at Harvard University, was named Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2010. He is known for working long hours and FT Tech Hub speculates that Zuckerberg was more than just holidaying in China, where Facebook has been banned.
He was seen rubbing shoulders with the chief executive of Robin Li, Baidu's CEO and one of China's wealthiest men. Baidu is the Google of China, being their largest search engine. At the Cannes Lion advertising festival last summer, Zuckerberg stated that China was a key target for Facebook's growth. The article speculates that creating a local partnership could be the first step in having China allow Facebook to be established.
What will be interesting is to see if Facebook can be any more successful at avoiding government-sponsored censorship on its site and breaking through the "great firewall of China."
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 11/29/2010
Since when is copyright infringement a homeland security issue? Just asking....
According to a number of members of the web4lib listserv, a number of sites have been taken down by the US government, in part, for copyright infringement. Mashable has more information on the taking down of Torrent-Finder.com.
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 9/30/2010
The Canadian Library Association (CLA) has released a list of the most challenged books for 2009 in their Report of the Annual Survey of the Advisory Committee on Intellectual Freedom.
Charlaine Harris tops the list for "The Southern Vampire Mysteries." This series was challenged four separate times within the same library system.
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 9/27/2010
Banned Books Week in the US began on September 25 and runs until October 2, 2010. The Huffington Post has created a list of 15 of the most iconic, popular, and/or celebrated movies of all time (with short clips). All of these movies are based on books which have been challenged or worse.
According to the American Library Association (ALA):
Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 9/10/2010
Rev. Terry Jones, the pastor of a small non-denominational congregation in Gainesville, Florida has been threatening to burn 200 copies of the Koran, the Islamic holy book tomorrow, the anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre. Jones, the author of a book entitled Islam is of the Devil and the Dove World Outreach Center intended to create a bonfire on the church property.
Islamics and Christians alike are condemning the burning, along with world leaders and US generals who say this act could endanger US troops.
Yesterday, under growing pressure, Jones announced that he was calling off plans and implied that he had made a deal with the organizers of the construction of an Islamic centre near Ground Zero to agree to move the location if the Koran burning was cancelled. However, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf denied having spoken to Jones, stating, "I am surprised by their announcement. We are not going to toy with our religion or any other. Nor are we going to barter. We are here to extend our hands to build peace and harmony."
Today, the church's two websites were taken down by the web-hosting company Rackspace, on the grounds that the church has violated the terms of service with regard to a clause that forbids content that is "excessively violent, incites violence, threatens violence, or contains harassing content or hate speech; and creates a risk to a person's safety or health, creates a risk to public safety or health, compromises national security, or interferes with a investigation by law enforcement." Copies of Pastor Jones' book were available for order through the web site. To date, the church's Facebook page (Facebook account needed to view page) "International Burn A Koran Day" is still available along with many other group pages condemning the act.The American Library Association plans to read publicly from the Koran -- a reaction to the planned book burning -- from the steps of their headq
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 8/27/2010
BC Ferries has banned the sale of The Golden Mean by Canadian author Annabel Lyon in their gift shops. While most books are challenged over content, The Golden Mean is being kept off of BC Ferries because of the cover which depicts a naked male figure whose buttocks are exposed. The ban has gained the attention of papers around the world who have picked up the story, including The Guardian in the UK and The New Yorker.
According to the Vancouver Sun, "BC Ferries has a habit of banning books that feature nudity of any kind. Stephen Vogler's Only in Whistler was banned in 2009 because it featured a historical photo of four naked female skiers viewed from the rear. Two years ago, Wreck Beach, a history of Vancouver's nude beach, was banned for similar reasons."
Deborah Marshall, a spokesperson for B.C. Ferries defended the policy, explaining that there are children in the gift shops and that they are a "family show." The suggestion that BC Ferries carry the book if there was a "belly band" hiding the photo was rejected by Random House. Books for the bookstore are chosen by a committee and according to Mitchell, "We choose to select non-controversial books in our gift shop."
Craig Spence, president of the Federation of British Columbia Writers expressed his concern, saying the ban was "an overreaction to a photo that's artistic ... are you going to stop kids from seeing Michelangelo's David? The kinds of graphic material that kids are exposed to, through advertising and other media all the time, go much farther than that, and they're not in a context that would give it the justification."
The Golden Mean is a fictional account of a young Alexander the Great during the time when Aristotle was his tutor. It has received wide acclaim and has been considered for numerous awards.
WINNER 2009 - Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
FINALIST 2009 - Scotiabank Giller Prize
FINALIST 2009 - Governor General's Literary Awards - Fiction
FINALIST 2010 - Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Canada & Caribbean)
FINALIST 2010 - Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award
FINALIST 2010 - BC Book Prize's Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize
FINALIST 2010 - Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award - Fiction Book of the Year
FINALIST 2010 - Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award - Author of the Year
Annabel Lyon is a BC writer.
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 8/18/2010
Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451, officially turns 90 on August 22, 2010. This Friday, fans of Bradbury will ask Los Angeles City Council to declare Aug. 22-28 Ray Bradbury Week. While Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois, he moved to Los Angeles in 1934, where he has lived since that time.
A number of celebrations are being planned, including a tribute at the Mystery and Imagination Bookstore, a profile in the Writers Guild magazine, an exhibit of Bradbury books in the public library, a school production of a play based on the novel, an evening of screening TV shows based on Bradbury's writings, and a screening of the Fahrenheit 451 movie which will include an interview with Hugh Hefner and Ray Bradbury.
Bradbury's works include Something Wicked this Way Comes, The Martian Chronicles, Dandelion Wine, and Fahrenheit 451. He has also been a writer on an astounding 75 films, many of them adaptations of his novels and short stories. His body of work has earned him the National Medal of the Arts and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Ray Bradbury Week in Los Angeles is on Facebook for anyone interested in learning more. (You must have a Facebook account to log in.)
The last book banning in the USA occurred about half a century ago: http://tinyurl.com/Sowell
While that may be, challenges to books continue to be mounted throughout the world.