Celebrate Free Speech; Read a Banned Book!

So, here we are, smack dab in the middle of the 30^th annual Banned Books Week, and that makes me wanna shout: “Long live free speech! Hail the enduring power of the pen!”

Well, actually, today it may not be the power of the pen exactly, but it is the power of words and ideas that we celebrate during Banned Books Week. We celebrate the writers who have had the courage to challenge the status quo and offer fresh perspectives for all to consider. We celebrate their innovation, creativity, and fearlessness. We also celebrate those who stood up for these writers, living and dead, and continue to champion the cause of a vibrant, uncensored society in which all are free to express themselves, and all are free to make their own decisions.

As I look over the banned books list, I am always amazed by what’s on it. You have everything from A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen to Ulysses by James Joyce—works that, today, one might think are completely innocuous. However, many books and authors are still being “challenged” today and, in some cases, banned for many of the same reasons Adventures of Huckleberry Finn once was. That is why it is so important to stay vigilant in our support of freedom of expression and the press, and to strongly support the budding crop of writers who are picking up the torch of their fierce predecessors and pushing new boundaries.

Huck and Jim on the
Mississippi River

Begun in 1982 by librarian and director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom Judith Krug, Banned Books Week was designed to not only promote free speech but to encourage everyone to read previously banned and challenged books. In that spirit, Gleeditions is proud to offer many of these progressive works, including

§        A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

§        Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (original, first edition) by Mark Twain

§        “Candide” by F. M. A. de Voltaire

§        The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

§        Tartuffe by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière

Now, doesn't this make you want to pick up or download a banned book today and share it with your friends, kids, students, or even a stranger at Starbucks? Celebrate the courage and conviction of these incredible authors, and continue to promote and defend freedom of speech in America, and everywhere!

The Power of the Pen: Remembering Female Authors Who Freed Us All

The power of the pen never ceases to amaze me. It can liberate those who are even bound by physical means, and its force and impact can reach across time and space.

I am reminded of this today because 339 years ago, Anne Bradstreet, the first published colonial poet, left this world. Though she had already published a book of poetry in England, it was her work in the 'New World' that reflected her pioneering spirit and readiness to challenge the status quo--especially that of women in this newly-forming American society.  She writes

I am obnoxious to each carping tongue, Who sayes, my hand a needle better fits, A Poets Pen, all scorne, I should thus wrong; For such despighte they cast on female wits: If what i doe prove well, it wo'nt advance, They'l say its stolen, or else, it was by chance. 

She also adds, "Let Greeks be Greeks, and women what they are."

Bradstreet may have been understated, but her message is clear. And it had an impact that extended to the next poet to be published during the colonial era, Phillis Wheatley.

A century after Bradstreet, Wheatley became not only the second published poet but the first African American published author--all while remaining enslaved.

Wheatley was taken to America from Gambia, West Africa when she was seven, and sold into slavery.  She not only mastered English by age 14 (she published her first poem at that age), but shortly thereafter educated herself in Latin and the Classics and produced a widely-lauded translation of the niobe episode from Book VI of Ovid's Metamorphoses. In 1772, her first volume of poetry was published in London, where she went 'on tour' and received accolades from such luminaries as Benjamin Franklin and Voltaire. After achieving international acclaim, Wheatley writes, her owner, John Wheatley, finally saw fit to "give me my freedom.” Therefore, Phillis Wheatley was the first African American to free herself by means of her own writing ability.

Tragically, due to myriad factors, including racial discrimination, Wheatley died forgotten and impoverished in 1884 from complications after child birth.

Despite her tragic ending, as widely noted by scholars throughout the world, Phillis Wheatley represents a number of firsts in American culture. She is the first published African American author and also the first woman who published her work largely through the efforts of a community of women: her mistress, Susanna, seems always to have encouraged her to write, and her daughter, Mary, may have served as the poet's first tutor; Obour Tanner, her black soulmate, evidently gave Wheatley encouragement and spiritual counsel, but it was probably through the efforts of Selina Hastings, the Countess of Huntingdon, that she saw one of her volumes come into print. Wheatley also enjoys the distinction of being America's first woman writer who tried to make a living by the use of her pen, and she is certainly one of America's first authors, whether man or woman, to do so. In addition, Wheatley is one of America's first writers to cultivate for publication the epistolary style. According to Henry Louis Gates Jr.,  she is “the progenitor of the black literary tradition.”

So, today, and every day, we salute these remarkable women and the power of the pen, for it freed them both and continues to offer light and inspiration to us all.

Become a Contributor!

Hello everyone!

The Guardian's first book award goes to Down the Rabbit Hole, a Vancouver B.C. theatre company stages an innovative production of Merchant of Venice, and we uncover the link between Nasa and novelists--all of these scintillating snippets are featured in the new edition of our September Literary News.

In addition, we have an updated listing of university and local theatre productions throughout the country and English-speaking world, as well as details on an exciting poetry contest hosted by Ohio State University Press and open to all!

We encourage all English teachers, students, librarians, publicists, and bookworms to contribute to our news page (Much Ado About Some Things) and to share with us your news and events. Please contact me with any announcements or article ideas for our next edition (October 2011). Cheers!