Freedom to Read: Banned Book Week in 11 Links

Banned Books Week, typically recognized during the last week of September, is the book world’s yearly celebration of our right to choose freely the things we read. Libraries and bookstores around the country will use this week to host events, display banned books, and further the conversation about this very real, and very current issue. Alongside these events and displays, the Internet’s book community will use its considerable weight and uncountable tentacles to create awareness and engender debate.

Here at UT Press we want to be part of that weight and one of those tentacles. We hope you’ll think about what it means to have books being banned in your community, and we hope that you’ll show support to those who stand up for your freedom to choose the books you read.

Get your Banned Books Week goods at ALA.org

1

First, some background about Banned Books Week:
http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/about

2

Several banned books appear in the Library of Congress exhibit “Books that Shaped America.”

3

Are some of your favorite books on that list and on Wikipedia’s list of most commonly challenged books in the US?

4

Banning books isn’t old news. A school district in North Carolina just banned Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man: Los Angeles Times Books Section

5

Read about the banning of Rainbow Rowell’s YA novel Eleanor & Park on thetoast.net.

6

Read about the banning of Marjane Satrapi’s amazing graphic novel Persepolis being banned in Chicago on theverge.com.

7

In honor of Banned Books Week, Brazos Bookstore in Houston and Workhouse Printmakers will be hosting one of the coolest events I’ve ever heard of:

In-house printmaking by Workhorse Printers at Brazos Bookstore, via AIGA Houston

8

Texas’ own Bill Moyers speaks elegantly about Banned Books Week:


Bill Moyers on Banned Books Week from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

9

More authors and celebrities speak out about Banned Book Week, including Judy Blume, Whoopi Goldberg, and Molly Ringwald:



http://www.youtube.com/user/bannedbooksweek?feature=results_main

10

The American Library Association gives you an opportunity to get involved with their Virtual Read-Out.

11

Follow the conversation about Banned Book Week on Twitter, and on Youtube, including two ‘Twitter parties’ on Monday, Sept 23, and a second on Sept 25. Use the hashtag #bannedbooksweek to participate!

Twitter, YouTube Will Promote Banned Books Week, via publishersweekly.com

— Brian Contine, Marketing & Publicity Assistant 

Publicity Round Up

With the heat of summer upon us, Robb Walsh and O. Rufus Lovett's barbecue joint adventure is catching fire. Check out the attention that Barbecue Crossroads — and other UT Press books — are getting this season.

• Publishers Weekly listed Barbecue Crossroads as a 'Standout Barbecue Book.' See the list at publishersweekly.com>> 
• Booklist gave the book a starred review. Read it on booklistonline.com>>
• Robb Walsh was pegged as "The Steinbeck of the South" in the Dallas Morning News. Read the article on dallasnews.com>>
• Houston Chronicle's Greg Morago says of the book, "Throughout this smoked-meat hegira Walsh lavishes Southern barbecue lore and history like he’s building an especially luscious pulled-pork sandwich. The stories and recipes he coaxes from these keepers of the flame are what make “Barbecue Crossroads” such a tasty journey.” Read the rest on houstonchronicle.com>>
• Russ Parsons of the Los Angeles Times on reading Barbecue Crossroads: "In the end, you feel privileged to have been invited along and a whole lot smarter about not only smoked meat in all of its many guises, but this lovely and confounding part of the country.” More on latimes.com>>
• A prominent mention in a list of new cookbooks from the New York Times. See the list on nytimes.com>>

Photojournalists and authors Michael Kamber and Donna De Cesare continue to garner widespread attention for their projects:

• The BBC interviewed Michael Kamber about his book Photojournalists on War. Watch on bbc.co.uk>> 
• Kamber talks to the Washington Post's 'The Fold' about the stories behind the images. Watch the video on washingtonpost.com>>
•  Austin Merrell of Vanity Fair says of the book, "Kamber's interviews with his colleagues cover the war as they saw it—their passion for the story, their fears and daily complications, and the trauma they live with still today. Some of their images are among the most iconic of the war, some are previously unpublished..." View the slideshow and article on vanityfair.com>>
• Michael Kamber appeared on the Leonard Lopate Show to promote the book. Listen to the interview on wnyc.org>> 
• CBSnews.com featured a slideshow with interview excerpts from contributing photographers. See it on cbsnews.com>>
• Mike Sacks on HuffPost Live digs deeper into the photojournalist's experience in Iraq with Michael Kamber. Watch it on live.huffingtonpost.com>> 
• KPCC Radio, NPR's affiliate station in Pasadena, CA, interviewed Donna De Cesare about her book Unsettled/Desasosiego. Listen to the interview on scpr.org>>

 

Los Angeles Times :: The CIA in Hollywood

The CIA in Hollywood

by Tricia Jenkins

Buy It Now

Hollywood a longtime friend of the CIA
High-level access granted to filmmakers researching a movie about the Osama bin Laden raid is just the latest episode in an increasingly close, cooperative arrangement that has spanned administrations.
By Ken Dilanian and Rebecca Keegan

excerpt: "The CIA has been subtly influencing motion picture content for more than 15 years," said Tricia Jenkins, author of "The CIA in Hollywood," the first academic appraisal of the CIA's efforts to influence popular entertainment.

Jenkins said the CIA's cultivation of Hollywood paid off after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Even as the CIA was subject to incredible public criticism for failing to predict the attacks, there came a spate of TV shows and movies depicting the CIA as competent, effective and willing to share intelligence," she said.

read the full article at latimes.com »

Los Angeles Timess :: From Uncertain to Blue

From Uncertain to Blue

By Keith Carter
Buy It Now

Coffee-table books

The bold and the beautiful: Tomes brimming with images that captivate the imagination.

From Uncertain to Blue

Photographs

Keith Carter

University of Texas Press, $55

Keith Carter's classic photographic look at small-town life in America is reenvisioned along with a new essay, contact sheets and an amplified travel journal.

See the full list at latimes.com »

Los Angeles Times :: Oaxaca al Gusto

Oaxaca al Gusto:
An Infinite Gastronomy

By Diana Kennedy
Buy It Now

Diana Kennedy, "Top Chef" top James Beard awards

May 6, 2011

Diana Kennedy’s “Oaxaca al Gusto” was the best cookbook of the year according to the James Beard Foundation, at “Top Chef” was the best food television show. The awards were announced Friday night at Espace in New York. The restaurant awards will be announced Monday night. Harold McGee’s “On Food and Cooking” was placed in the Cookbook Hall of Fame.  Read more »

Los Angeles Times :: Unruly Girls, Unrepentant Mothers

Unruly Girls, Unrepentant Mothers

by Kathleen Rowe Karlyn

Buy It Now

With 2010 films, it's Mother's Day
By Randee Dawn

'..."Mothers are often trivialized or sentimentalized in films," says Kathleen Rowe Karlyn, director of cinema studies at the University of Oregon and author of the upcoming "Unruly Girls, Unrepentant Mothers." "We don't tell the stories of mothers very often; we're much more interested in subjects that are interesting to men."

Karlyn points to Oscar winners "American Beauty" and "Titanic" as examples of avoiding real characterizations of mothers: "There are two mothers in 'Beauty,'" she says. "One is a shrew and one is lobotomized. In 'Titanic,' Rose would rather go down with the ship and Leo DiCaprio than get on the lifeboat with her mom!"

There are any number of reasons why moms routinely get short shrift as characters, ranging from ageism to subtle misogyny to simple economics — as in the industry belief that too much focus on female characters may turn off big-spending male audiences and drive down box-office revenue ... '

Read the full Los Angeles Times article »