"Free People Read Freely®"
I thought this might be of interest to those who value literacy and the power of words. I've observed this week since its inception and have found interesting both which ideas/books/authors are challenged each year, and which are challenged year after year after year...Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. This year, 2006, marks BBW's 25th anniversary (September 23-30).
BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.
-gailr
"...The Director General invites you to examine the planisphere hanging on the wall. The varied color scheme indicates:
the countries where all books are systematically confiscated
the countries where only books published or approved by the State may circulate
the countries where existing censorship is crude, approximate, and unpredictable
the countries where the censorship is subtle, informed, sensitive to implications and allusions, managed by meticulous and sly intellectuals
the countries where there are two networks of dissemination: one legal and one clandestine
the countries where there is no censorship because there are no books, but there are many potential readers
the countries where there are no books and nobody complains about their absence
the countries, finally, in which every day, books are produced for all tastes and all ideas, amid general indifference.
Nobody these days holds the written word in such high esteem as police states do... "
-Italo Calvino
Italian novelist (1923–1985)