Saint Mary’s College will host its first ever on-campus readings of banned books in celebration of Banned Books Week from September 26 to 30. The readings will take place in the Mother Pauline Room on the second floor of the Cushwa-Leighton Library at the College from 12:15-1:00 p.m. The public is invited.

Each afternoon, four readers will share 10-minute excerpts from banned books of their choice. The readers are students, faculty, administration, and staff of Saint Mary’s College, and the chosen literature includes To Kill a Mockingbird, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Animal Farm, Slaughterhouse Five, and The Catcher in the Rye.

Librarian Robert Hohl is the coordinator of the event. “The act of censorship continues and we have to continually reaffirm our commitment to freedom of speech, thought, creative power and the exchange of information,” says Hohl. “We have the ability to address acts of censorship in an intelligent and constructive way.”

Sponsored annually by the American Library Association (ALA) and other organizations, Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Featured books have been targets of attempted bans. The event highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship of books across the United States.

Hohl recognizes the problems with censorship on literature and intellectual freedom. “It will probably always be an element of our society. But the problem with banning books is that it undermines a democracy,” says Hohl. “Ironically, sometimes the censored literature is the best literature that society has produced.”