Banned Books READ OUT - Tuesday, September 24

New York Civil Liberties Union, University Club Foundation Present READ OUT!

The Public is Invited to Celebrate the Freedom to Read on 9/24

Banned Books Week (Sept. 22 – 28, 2013) highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship. For a third time, the University Club of Albany Foundation and the New York Civil Liberties Union, Capital Region Chapter will co-present ReadOut! on Tuesday, September 24 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the National Register-listed University Club of Albany, 141 Washington Avenue at Dove Street. 

Local actors, writers, poets, and community leaders will read brief excerpts from books that have been banned or challenged in America. In 2012, the most frequently challenged books included: the Captain Underpants children’s novel series by Dav Pilkey; Fifty Shades of Gray by E.L. James; and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. This event is free and open to the public, light fare will be served, and drinks will be available. 

Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community – librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types – in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

An additional ReadOut! program is slated for Market Block Books at 290 River Street in Troy on Friday, September 27 at 6 p.m. 

According to Joanna Palladino, a member of the NYCLU and an organizer of the event, “As Noam Chomsky said, ‘If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.’ Banned Books Week stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of diverse points of view for all who wish to read and access them.” 

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; the Freedom to Read Foundation; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; National Association of College Stores; and the PEN American Center. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and Project Censored.

The University Club of Albany Foundation, Inc. is presenting this event with the New York Civil Liberties Union, and one need not be a member of either organization attend. For more information, call the University Club at 518-463-1151. 

The University Club Foundation, a 501c3 corporation, was formed to recognize and maintain the unique historic and architectural significance of the University Club building and property, its historic neighborhood and the city of Albany, where it has been located since its inception in 1901.