Censored Authors Speak: Fourth of July and the Freedom to Read
Join our panel as they discuss how the rise in censorship and the increased suppression of ideas and perspectives of diverse authors intersects with our conception of America, and the rights and freedoms that are celebrated on July 4th.
This July 4th, Book Banning and Censorship is on the Rise in America
Across the country, books are being challenged and banned from school and public libraries at an unprecedented rate. These challenges are disproportionately targeting LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC authors and perspectives.
Join our panel of authors as they discuss how the rise in censorship and the increased suppression of ideas and perspectives of diverse authors intersects with our conception of America, and the rights and freedoms that are celebrated on July 4th.
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About Our Panelists and Moderator
Schuyler Bailar (he/him) is the first transgender athlete to compete in any sport on an NCAA Division 1 men’s team. By 15, he was one of the nation’s top-20 15-year-old breast-strokers. By 17, he set a national age-group record. In college, he swam for Harvard University, on Harvard’s winningest team in 50 years. Schuyler’s difficult choice – to transition while potentially giving up the prospect of being an NCAA Champion – was historic. His story has appeared everywhere from 60 Minutes to The Washington Post. Schuyler’s tireless advocacy has earned him numerous honors including LGBTQ Nation’s Instagram Advocate for 2020. In 2021, Schuyler also released his first middle-grade novel, Obie Is Man Enough. And in 2022, Schuyler created LaneChanger.com making gender literacy education accessible to every team, school and company.
Jen Ferguson (she/her) is Michif and white, an activist, a feminist, an auntie, and an accomplice with a PhD in English and Creative Writing. She believes writing, teaching and beading are political acts. The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, her debut YA novel, is out now from Heartdrum/HarperCollins with a second YA novel, currently untitled, to follow in 2023. Her first book for adults, Border Markers, a collection of interrelated flash fiction stories, is out now with NeWest Press. Her essay "Off Balance" was selected for the Best Canadian Essays 2020. Learn more about her short stories, essays, and poems. She lives on Gabrielino Tongva nation land and teaches fiction writing at Loyola Marymount University.
Adib Khorram is a queer Iranian-American author. He was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. A theater kid in high school, he went on to study design and technical theater at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, with an emphasis in lighting design, and spent several years in the event production industry. His first novel, the DARIUS THE GREAT IS NOT OKAY, was published in August 2018 by Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House, and won YALSA’s William C. Morris Award for Best Debut Author Writing for Teens, the Asian/Pacific American Literature Association’s Young Adult Award, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor, among other accolades. A companion novel, DARIUS THE GREAT DESERVES BETTER, was published in August 2020 to critical acclaim; it became an instant Indie Bestseller and received a Stonewall Honor. His picture book debut, SEVEN SPECIAL SOMETHINGS: A NOWRUZ STORY (illustrated by Zainab Faidhi) was published in spring 2021.
Maulik Pancholy is best known for his comedic turns on television playing Jonathan on NBC’s critically acclaimed 30 Rock, Sanjay on Showtime’s Weeds, and Neal on NBC’s Whitney. He is the voice of Baljeet on Disney’s Phineas and Ferb and the title voice of Sanjay on Nickelodeon’s Sanjay and Craig. On Broadway, Pancholy starred in Terrence McNally’s It’s Only A Play and in the Tony-nominated production of Bess Wohl’s Grand Horizons. Pancholy’s debut novel, The Best at It (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins), is about a gay, Indian American boy coming into his own. It was named a 2020 Stonewall Honor Book, a 2019 Junior Library Guild Selection, a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books, a New York Times “Best Audiobooks for Road Trips with Kids,” and received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and the American Library Association’s Booklist. His second novel, Nikhil Out Loud (also with Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins), is slated for a fall 2022 release.
Nawal Qarooni is an educator and writer who works in education spaces to support a holistic model of literacy instruction. She and her team of coaches at NQC Literacy work with teachers and school leaders to grow a love of reading and composition in ways that exalt the whole child, their cultural capital and their intrinsic curiosities. She is the proud daughter of immigrants, and mothering her four young kids shapes her understanding of teaching and learning. Nawal’s first book about family literacy with Heinemann is forthcoming in 2023. She is a graduate of University of Michigan and attended Syracuse University for her first master's degree in journalism, and transitioned from newspaper reporting to education as a New York City Teaching Fellow.
Check out our Online Banned Bookstore to purchase titles by our authors.
This event is co-sponsored by We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) and EveryLibrary
We Need Diverse Books is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that runs 12 exciting initiatives united under one goal—to combat systemic racism and oppression by creating a world where everyone can find themselves on the pages of a book. Established in 2014, WNDB strives to support and amplify diverse literature by mentoring marginalized creators, providing resources to diverse publishing professionals, and donating diverse books to schools and libraries nationwide. Learn more at diversebooks.org.
EveryLibrary is the first and only national political action committee for libraries. We are a gold-rated non-profit that offers pro bono consulting to libraries helping them secure new funding through tax and advisory referendum, bonds elections, negotiations with school boards, and advocacy at municipal, state, and federal levels. EveryLibrary has also been providing pro bono consulting to state libraries, associations, library boards, public and school librarians, and citizen activists groups in our shared fight against censorship, anti-access legislation, and the increasingly coordinated attempts across our country to silence diverse voices. As a 100% donor supported organization, we welcome contributions from individual, corporate, union, and political donors to advance our work.
When
Where
This July 4th, Book Banning and Censorship is on the Rise in America
Across the country, books are being challenged and banned from school and public libraries at an unprecedented rate. These challenges are disproportionately targeting LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC authors and perspectives.
Join our panel of authors as they discuss how the rise in censorship and the increased suppression of ideas and perspectives of diverse authors intersects with our conception of America, and the rights and freedoms that are celebrated on July 4th.
|
|
About Our Panelists and Moderator
Schuyler Bailar (he/him) is the first transgender athlete to compete in any sport on an NCAA Division 1 men’s team. By 15, he was one of the nation’s top-20 15-year-old breast-strokers. By 17, he set a national age-group record. In college, he swam for Harvard University, on Harvard’s winningest team in 50 years. Schuyler’s difficult choice – to transition while potentially giving up the prospect of being an NCAA Champion – was historic. His story has appeared everywhere from 60 Minutes to The Washington Post. Schuyler’s tireless advocacy has earned him numerous honors including LGBTQ Nation’s Instagram Advocate for 2020. In 2021, Schuyler also released his first middle-grade novel, Obie Is Man Enough. And in 2022, Schuyler created LaneChanger.com making gender literacy education accessible to every team, school and company.
Jen Ferguson (she/her) is Michif and white, an activist, a feminist, an auntie, and an accomplice with a PhD in English and Creative Writing. She believes writing, teaching and beading are political acts. The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, her debut YA novel, is out now from Heartdrum/HarperCollins with a second YA novel, currently untitled, to follow in 2023. Her first book for adults, Border Markers, a collection of interrelated flash fiction stories, is out now with NeWest Press. Her essay "Off Balance" was selected for the Best Canadian Essays 2020. Learn more about her short stories, essays, and poems. She lives on Gabrielino Tongva nation land and teaches fiction writing at Loyola Marymount University.
Adib Khorram is a queer Iranian-American author. He was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. A theater kid in high school, he went on to study design and technical theater at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, with an emphasis in lighting design, and spent several years in the event production industry. His first novel, the DARIUS THE GREAT IS NOT OKAY, was published in August 2018 by Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House, and won YALSA’s William C. Morris Award for Best Debut Author Writing for Teens, the Asian/Pacific American Literature Association’s Young Adult Award, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor, among other accolades. A companion novel, DARIUS THE GREAT DESERVES BETTER, was published in August 2020 to critical acclaim; it became an instant Indie Bestseller and received a Stonewall Honor. His picture book debut, SEVEN SPECIAL SOMETHINGS: A NOWRUZ STORY (illustrated by Zainab Faidhi) was published in spring 2021.
Maulik Pancholy is best known for his comedic turns on television playing Jonathan on NBC’s critically acclaimed 30 Rock, Sanjay on Showtime’s Weeds, and Neal on NBC’s Whitney. He is the voice of Baljeet on Disney’s Phineas and Ferb and the title voice of Sanjay on Nickelodeon’s Sanjay and Craig. On Broadway, Pancholy starred in Terrence McNally’s It’s Only A Play and in the Tony-nominated production of Bess Wohl’s Grand Horizons. Pancholy’s debut novel, The Best at It (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins), is about a gay, Indian American boy coming into his own. It was named a 2020 Stonewall Honor Book, a 2019 Junior Library Guild Selection, a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books, a New York Times “Best Audiobooks for Road Trips with Kids,” and received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and the American Library Association’s Booklist. His second novel, Nikhil Out Loud (also with Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins), is slated for a fall 2022 release.
Nawal Qarooni is an educator and writer who works in education spaces to support a holistic model of literacy instruction. She and her team of coaches at NQC Literacy work with teachers and school leaders to grow a love of reading and composition in ways that exalt the whole child, their cultural capital and their intrinsic curiosities. She is the proud daughter of immigrants, and mothering her four young kids shapes her understanding of teaching and learning. Nawal’s first book about family literacy with Heinemann is forthcoming in 2023. She is a graduate of University of Michigan and attended Syracuse University for her first master's degree in journalism, and transitioned from newspaper reporting to education as a New York City Teaching Fellow.
Check out our Online Banned Bookstore to purchase titles by our authors.
This event is co-sponsored by We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) and EveryLibrary
We Need Diverse Books is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that runs 12 exciting initiatives united under one goal—to combat systemic racism and oppression by creating a world where everyone can find themselves on the pages of a book. Established in 2014, WNDB strives to support and amplify diverse literature by mentoring marginalized creators, providing resources to diverse publishing professionals, and donating diverse books to schools and libraries nationwide. Learn more at diversebooks.org.
EveryLibrary is the first and only national political action committee for libraries. We are a gold-rated non-profit that offers pro bono consulting to libraries helping them secure new funding through tax and advisory referendum, bonds elections, negotiations with school boards, and advocacy at municipal, state, and federal levels. EveryLibrary has also been providing pro bono consulting to state libraries, associations, library boards, public and school librarians, and citizen activists groups in our shared fight against censorship, anti-access legislation, and the increasingly coordinated attempts across our country to silence diverse voices. As a 100% donor supported organization, we welcome contributions from individual, corporate, union, and political donors to advance our work.