“It’s vitally important for kids to be able to see themselves in the pages, but it’s also vitally important for other kids to be able to see other people’s humanity and perspectives and history. That’s what we want”
-Meg Medina
On October 22nd, we had the honor to host the Distinguished Professor Lecture entitled “Book Banning,” where different publishing professionals had a captivating dialogue about book banning. The following speakers joined us in a conversation moderated by Professor Soares, and discussed how book banning affects their daily lives and their work, and what can be done to adress this issue:
- Matt Nosanchuk, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Operations and Outreach in the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education
- Leslie Gallager, Founding Librarian at Brooklyn Prospect High School, and the NYC chapter of the Human Library
- Michelle Leo, Vice President, Director of Education & Library Marketing for Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
- Jeff Trexler, Interim Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
- Carl Lennertz, the Executive Director of the Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader
The panel started with an introduction from Matt Nosanchuk, where he discussed the problematics related to book banning and how he and his team work to address this issue. Book banning, which tends to be especially targeted to books about specific communities, BIPOC people, both as characters of the stories and as authors, is considered a civil rights issue. When a book is banned, a voice is challenged, and it is a civil right violation. Matt Nosanchuk also shared how through his work as Deputy Assistant Secretary, he focuses on protecting civil rights by offering training, workshops, and policy guidance, to the community.
One of the highlights of the night was when each panelist shared the impact that book banning has had at their workplace. Leslie Gallager declared that book banning gives her more motivation to read those titles and include them in the curriculum in her school; although they are not allowed to have them on the shelves, they teach them and put them in the curriculum instead. Michelle Leo shared that at her work at Simon and Schuster Children’s Book Publishing, they are committed to publishing diverse books, publishing all kinds of books for all kinds of reader; book banning makes them feel more committed to that goal. Jeff Trexler shared that they all come together to defend a medium they love and discussed how some schools will keep the text version of some of the challenged titles but ban the graphic novel version of the book.
“It’s essential for kids to see each other’s lives. It’s essential for kids to see themselves in books. It’s essential for kids to understand each other”
-Karl Lennertz
The conversation also expanded to talk about how manga, and graphic novels have been challenged, and how the process of banning a book starts. In some schools, if a parent decides that a specific title doesn’t align with their values, even without reading that title, they will file a complaint, and the book will end up off the shelf. Additionally, thoughts were shared regarding the importance of banned books, the message a lot of them share, and the communities they represent. Many of the titles challenged are written by BIPOC authors or have characters from a diverse community. When they are banned, people cannot longer access them, and the opportunity to build empathy and learn about different communities is lost.
A wide range of students and faculty from the MS in Publishing program attended this panel, constantly sharing their thoughts and reactions to what was being discussed. We hope all attendees enjoyed it and learned something new about this important issue.