Tallahassee authors, performers step up for 'Freadom' during Banned Book Week

This August, just as schools were getting ready to start another academic year, there was a shocking and disturbing image on the campus of New College of Florida in Sarasota: a dumpster and large boxes filled with books to be thrown away.

Many of them had come from the library of donated materials to the now-closed Gender and Diversity Center. Others had come from the school’s main campus library.

Titles included “When I Knew,” an anthology of coming out stories from LGBTQ+ writers to the H.G. Wells classic, “War of the Worlds.” New College, which has undergone a dramatic shift in identity after Gov. Ron DeSantis replaced most of the board of trustees, has said the books were removed due to water damage.

But after the image of the dumpster images went viral, the school fired its top librarian. They claimed she had not used the proper vetting process for deciding what books should be removed, even though there is documentation that she sought advice from the school’s legal counsel.

“This is just one of the reasons this year’s Banned Books Week needs special attention in Florida,” says Susan Gage, an LGBTQ+ activist, priest, and former public radio reporter.

Gage has assembled a lineup of local authors and performers to read selections from some of the banned books as part of “Freadom: An Evening of Anti-Censorship Book Readings and Film” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, at Blue Tavern, 1206 North Monroe St.

“Since our Governor went on his book banning crusade, Florida is now a leader in banning books, many of them with LGBTQ+ themes or written by Black or brown authors,” says Gage. “School districts in Florida removed more than 1,400 titles from the bookshelves last year. But what might offend one person may be the book that tells a story that keeps a kid from feeling alone or unacceptable because they can see themselves in the story.”

The book bans in Florida have made national headlines and have now resulted in a lawsuit by several publishing houses challenging the state statute.

Tallahassee boasts several authors and performers who will be reading at this event, including Melanie Rawls, Pat McEnulty, Terry Galloway, Virgil Suarez, Gail Adams, and Jeff Mandel. In addition to the readings, Carrie Hamby, owner of Blue Tavern, will be showing the 1993 documentary, “Degenerate Art,” which shows the history of the Nazis effort to crack down on artists in the lead up to World War II.

“It’s scary to think about how that scene in Sarasota this summer looks so similar to 1930s Germany,” says Gage.

Banned Books Week is an annual event sponsored by PEN America, an advocacy group that fights censorship and celebrates the freedom to read. Founded in London in 1921, the group expanded to New York City the following year and has grown ever since.

In the words of one of its original founders, Catherine Amy Dawson Scott, it was her “unshakable conviction that the writers of the world to learn to stretch out their hands to each other, so the nations of the world would learn in time to do the same.”

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee authors, performers step up for 'Freadom' during Banned Book Week