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Thursday, September 7, 2023

7:00-8:00 PM

Doors open at 6:30

First Thursdays Arts Walk: “The Banned Books Tour”

Riverside Public Library

3900 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside 92501

and

Civil Rights Institute of Southern California

3933 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside 92501

Book banning might seem like the stuff of earlier times and foreign places – the very term evokes a pile of flaming literature from wartime Germany or Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 – yet the resurgence of book banning in the 2020s is a real-time, real-life concern. School boards and other political entities have caused certain books to be prohibited or restricted on a variety of grounds, including the personal discomfort of a single individual. According to PBS News, “book ban attempts soared in 2022.”

Please join Inlandia – in partnership with Riverside Public Library, the Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California, and the Center for Social Justice and Civil Liberties – at Riverside Main Library at 7:00 PM on September 7 for a discussion on the resurgence of book banning in the 2020s. The evening will include readings of favorite banned books by community members interlaced with conversation, a call to action, and a tour of the Civil Rights Institute, located directly across the street from the library.

The library will provide an array of banned and challenged books available for check out. Don’t have a library card? You can get one on the spot!

The Civil Rights Institute will also host a Downtowne Book Store pop-up bookstore where you may purchase books for yourself and/or for donation to the new Project Legacy campus in Riverside, which serves area homeless people in vulnerable populations, including LGBTQ+, youths, older residents, veterans, and those with chronic health conditions or disabilities.

Curious about what books have been banned, censored, or challenged? A partial list includes To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, The Diary of a Young Girl, The Handmaid’s Tale, Grapes of Wrath, books from the Harry Potter series, and The Bluest Eye. There are many, many more.

For a more comprehensive list, please visit https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1360.Best_Banned_Censored_and_Challenged_Books

We’d love to hear from you about your favorite banned or challenged books. Which ones changed your life? What stories have stuck with you and shifted your perspective or understanding of the world? Please send us the titles that you love, and, if possible, a short quotation from each. We will share community input in a slideshow during Arts Walk. You can send your favorite books and quotes to: programs@inlandiainstitute.org.

Free and open to the public. Please join us.