Censorship in prison and the chilling effects of surveillance on freedom of expression were at the forefront of the 2013 Banned Books Readout on Monday.
The event featured seven celebrity panelists reading from banned or challenged books. They included Wally Lamb, whose book She's Come Undone was briefly banned at York Correctional Institution. The event, held at the Mark Twain branch of Hartford Public Library, was sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, Hartford Public Library and the Law and Government Academy at Hartford Public High School.
Tom Condon, deputy editorial page editor of The Hartford Courant, read from George Orwell's classic 1984, describing it as "the book that put the 'dys' in dystopian." He noted the similarity between Orwell's vision and recently revealed government surveillance in the United States, adding "Is there a greater irony than banning a book that warns of the dangers of totalitarianism?"
In welcoming the audience, Andrew Schneider, executive director of the ACLU of Connecticut, also drew a parallel between the government surveillance described by Orwell and the surveillance of Americans by the National Security Agency. The government can track not only phone calls but also the websites that people read and the online records of their book buying and borrowing, he said.
"We need to continue our vigilance against censorship in all its forms," he said, "including the chilling effects of surveillance on readers and the potential damage to our democracy."
Lamb talked about the controversy around the decision earlier this month to pull his novel She's Come Undone from the library at York Correctional. The decision was reversed after a public outcry, as was a decision to consider banning a book of inmates' writing that Lamb edited, I'll Fly Away.
Hearing the voices of incarcerated women emerge as they write their stories has been a privilege, Lamb said. "A lot of women in prison have already been silenced," he said.
Fellow panelist Stan Simpson, a columnist and TV talk show host, pointed out that most inmates don't have high school diplomas and many are functionally illiterate. "Banning books doesn't help," he said.
The other panelists were Cathy Malloy, executive director of the Greater Hartford Arts Council; local musician Lorena Garay; Wilfredo Nieves, president of Capital Community College; and Rebecca Duncan, a student at the Law and Government Academy. John Dankosky, news director of WNPR radio and host of Where We Live, served as moderator.
