Monday, September 26, 2016

Celebration of Banned Books Week 2016: “Unsuited for Age Group”: Queer Youth Survival and the Freedom to Read

“Unsuited for Age Group”:  Queer Youth Survival and the Freedom to Read , a talk by Assistant Professor Zoe Fisher  at noon on Thursday, September 29  in honor of Banned Book Week at the Auraria Library.

Why are books with LGBTQ+ themes and characters targeted by parents and educators for removal from libraries? In 2015, the list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books included titles like I Am Jazz, a picture book based on the real life of a transgender child, Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, Alison Bechdel’s bestselling memoir Fun Home, and the young adult novel Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan. 

In this engaging and interactive talk, Assistant Professor Zoe Fisher will define and contextualize the attempts to censor these titles as an extension of America’s long struggle with internalized homophobia. As a librarian, she will argue that the profession of librarianship promotes queer youth survival by providing access to diverse books. Participants will discuss examples of banned books with queer themes and learn about contemporary controversies related to LGBTQ+ youth literature.