On the Frontlines

enDecember 07, 2023

Borrowed

About this Episode

Library workers often risk their livelihoods when they speak out against censorship, spurring community members to pick up the fight for intellectual freedom. We tell the story of how one Louisiana parish came together to defend their library amidst book challenges, tip lines, and even sign burning.

Read the transcript here.

Our call to action for this episode:

Find the people in your community who care about public libraries and get together with them.

More resources:

EveryLibrary Institute is an organization that seeks to build voter support for libraries. Learn more about their support of St. Tammany Library Alliance here.
Book Riot and EveryLibrary teamed up to survey parents about their perceptions of public libraries and book bans. Read the full results of the survey here.
Read Emily Drabinski's essay about St. Tammany Library and a report in the Louisiana Illuminator about the chaotic regularity of book challenges in the parish.
Most people oppose book bans, according to surveys from the American Library Association and CBS.
Check out this list of challenged and banned children's books.

Recent Episodes from Borrowed

The Challenge

Student activists in York, Pennsylvania organized a silent protest when hundreds of books were banned from their classrooms, paving the way for lasting change in their community. In this final episode of the series, we tackle the challenge head-on: from encouraging open dialogue about the books on our shelves to the ongoing work of protecting the freedom to read.

Read the transcript here.

Our call to action for this episode:

How will you use the stories you’ve heard over the course of this series to protect the freedom to read? Send a voice message to podcasts [at] bklynlibrary [dot] org and tell us what you’re seeing in your community, or what you want to see. We might play your voice on an upcoming bonus episode, so be sure to introduce yourself with your name, your age, and your location.

More resources:

Watch Edha and Christina's TEDx Talk and follow their advocacy organization, EmpowerED.
Read about the new "Fight Book Bans Act" introduced in Congress.
Learn about PEN America's work to catalog book bans, including a recent report that identifies a culture of fear and intimidation and cumulative book ban data from 2021 to 2023.
Writer George M. Johnson wrote about BPL's Chief Librarian Nick Higgins as a 2023 TIME100 Next Person of the Year.
Check out every book mentioned on our Borrowed and Banned series! (Psst. You can check them out with a Books Unbanned library card.) And, listen to our 2022 episode about the launch of Books Unbanned and the history of book challenges at BPL.

enDecember 14, 2023

brooklyn public library

On the Frontlines

Read the transcript here.

Our call to action for this episode:

Find the people in your community who care about public libraries and get together with them.

More resources:

EveryLibrary Institute is an organization that seeks to build voter support for libraries. Learn more about their support of St. Tammany Library Alliance here.
Book Riot and EveryLibrary teamed up to survey parents about their perceptions of public libraries and book bans. Read the full results of the survey here.
Read Emily Drabinski's essay about St. Tammany Library and a report in the Louisiana Illuminator about the chaotic regularity of book challenges in the parish.
Most people oppose book bans, according to surveys from the American Library Association and CBS.
Check out this list of challenged and banned children's books.

enDecember 07, 2023

An Interview with Maia Kobabe

Maia Kobabe's debut memoir, Gender Queer, was the most frequently banned book in 2021 and 2022. We talked with em about what it's like to be on the recieving end of so many challenges, and the importance of public libraries.

Read the transcript here.

More resources:

Check out Gender Queer.
Find Maia's resources for defending Gender Queer, and eir recent comic about book bans and libraries.
Read The Washington Post's article on book bans.

enNovember 30, 2023

Beloved Blues

Despite being one of the most frequently banned authors, Toni Morrison’s work has inspired countless others to tell stories outside the mainstream. We take a closer look at Morisson's writing, her legacy, and her impact on the anti-censorship movement.

Read the transcript here.

Our call to action for this episode:

Learn how you can support and defend public libraries at Libraries for the People.

More resources:

Read Toni Morrison's books. If you're a young person, you can apply for a Books Unbanned card to check out digital library books for free.
Listen to Toni Morrison's full 2016 talk that was part of the BPL Presents series Brooklyn by the Book, co-curated by Community Books, BPL Presents & Congregation Beth Elohim.
Watch Toni Morrison's speech when she accepted PEN America's PEN/Borders Literary Service Award in 2008.
Learn more about the National Coalition Against Censorship's Student Advocates for Speech program.

enNovember 22, 2023

An Interview with George M. Johnson

George M. Johnson talks about their debut Young Adult memoir All Boys Aren't Blue, the support of their family, their love of Toni Morrison, and the importance of standing against book bans.

Read the transcript here.

Resources:

Check out All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson.
Read about Johnson's family supporting their book when it was challenged in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.
Access other banned books with our free Books Unbanned library card for teens.

enNovember 16, 2023

Battle of the Classics

enNovember 09, 2023

An Interview with Mike Curato

Mike Curato talks about his award-winning graphic novel Flamer, his writing practice, and how it feels to have his story vaulted into national headlines as parents, politicians, and school boards campaign to remove his book from school and library shelves.

Read the transcript here.

Resources:

Check out Flamer from BPL, or other books by Mike Curato.
See what books were most frequently challenged in 2022, according to the America Library Association.
This conversation touches on suicide. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or is in crisis, you can talk to someone at the suicide and crisis lifeline. Just call 988. It’s free, and it’s available 24 hours a day.

enNovember 02, 2023

Of Parents and School Boards

Over the past few years, school board races have become more heated and more political — and books have become the center of that political storm. We look at what happened in Keller, Texas when an ultra-conservative group took over the school board.

You can read a transcript of this episode here.

Our call to action for this episode:

Find out when the next school board meeting is happening in your community, and show up.
Unite Against Book Bans has an Action Toolkit with advice for how to talk about book bans, and how to contact your local officials about the freedom to read.

More resources:

PEN America has been tracking states with "educational gag orders" in place or pending. Read their anyalisis here.
Read ProPublica's investigation into chaos at school boards, and Nicole Carr's reporting on one school board in Cherokee County, Georgia.
Submit an anonymous testimonial to help us document how teens, parents, educators and community members are fighting for their freedom to read.
Check out some of the books mentioned on this episode.

enOctober 26, 2023

This Day in Esoteric Political History: United States vs One Book Called Ulysses (1933)

It’s an off-week for Borrowed and Banned, but we do have something special to share. We’re doing a collaboration with PRX’s Radiotopia, and they sent along an episode from one of their shows that is really relevant to our series.

This Day in Esoteric Political History is a podcast that tells the story of one moment from US history that took place on a particular day -- and discuss what it might have to teach us about our current moment. Back in 2020, the hosts did an episode about the banning of James Joyce’s Ulysses <

enOctober 19, 2023

Seen and Obscene

The birth of obscenity laws in the 1870s provides a cautionary tale for the present moment, when far-right conservatives incorrectly label books “sexually explicit” as a way to provoke outrage in communities nationwide. This episode, we delve into the parallels that history can reveal and hear from students in Texas fighting for their freedom to read.

You can read a transcript of this episode here.

Our calls to action for this episode:

Be an ally and an advocate for the teens in your life. Start a conversation about what matters to them, and how you can help.
Support getting more LGBTQ+ affirming books into classrooms: Rainbow Library is a program created by GLSEN that allows school staff to request a set of 10 free LGBTQ+ books for their own classrooms.

More resources

Check out some of the books mentioned in this episode. If you live anywhere in the US and are between the ages of 13 and 21, you can check out those books (and many more!) with a Books Unbanned library card.
Learn more about Cameron Samuels, Da'Taeveyon Daniels, and their organization SEAT: Students Engaged in Advancing Texas.
Read the PEN America reports about book bans in schools for the 2021-2022 school year, and 2022-2023.
Delve into the history of censorship with Amy Werbel's book Lust on Trial and read her article about the parallels to today, co-authored with PEN America's Free Expression and Education Director Jonathan Friedman