As part of Freedom to Read Week, Toronto Public Library presents critic, essayist, and associate professor at the University of Toronto, Ira Wells to celebrate the publication of his new title On Book Banning: Or, How the New Censorship Consensus Trivializes Art and Undermines Democracy, in conversation with host Charles Foran.
The culture wars have found fertile ground within public schools and libraries. We’re witnessing a notable increase in book challenges and attempts to remove titles from bookshelves across North America and, as we know, this is nothing new. In On Book Banning, Ira Wells argues that conservatives and progressives alike are teaching our children that the solution to opposing viewpoints is outright censorship. How might we collectively push back and help reinforce our personal freedom to read? And how do we ensure that our democratic spaces continue to be welcoming spaces for all viewpoints?
The event is free, and will take place on Thursday, February 27 at 7PM in the Jack Rabinovitch Reading Room at the Toronto Reference Library.
More details here.
Grab On Book Banning here!
The freedom to read is under attack.
From the destruction of libraries in ancient Rome to today’s state-sponsored efforts to suppress LGBTQ+ literature, book bans arise from the impulse toward social control. In a survey of legal cases, literary controversies, and philosophical arguments, Ira Wells illustrates the historical opposition to the freedom to read and argues that today’s conservatives and progressives alike are warping our children’s relationship with literature and teaching them that the solution to opposing viewpoints is outright expurgation. At a moment in which our democratic institutions are buckling under the stress of polarization, On Book Banning is both rallying cry and guide to resistance for those who will always insist upon reading for themselves.
Ira Wells is a critic, essayist, and an associate professor at Victoria College in the University of Toronto, where he teaches in the Northrop Frye stream in literature and the humanities in the Vic One program. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Globe and Mail, Guardian, The New Republic, and many other venues. His most recent book is Norman Jewison: A Director’s Life. He lives in Toronto with his wife and children.
