Outlaw Production Collective, in partnership with the American Library Association, brought books to life at the Longmont Public Library. In celebration of Banned Books Week, BOOKS ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK featured professional actors who read excerpts from the top ten most targeted books in the U.S. in 2022. Actors provided the context in which the books were challenged or censored and lead an audience discussion.
The majority of books under attack are narratives of marginalized communities including people of color and the LGBTQ community, said Katy Nielson, Outlaw Production Collective artistic director. Outlaw Production Collective aims to highlight books that are often purposely hidden.
“Material that has been claimed to be subversive and inappropriate actually has merit and value,” Nelson said.
Challenged books almost doubled in numbers from 2020 to 2021, according to the American Library Association. In 2020, 729 demands to censor books were made and the following year, the number grew to 1,269 demands. Last year marked the highest number of books targeted in the last twenty years, with 3,923 titles challenged.
“Censorship is a threat to an educated democracy. You can’t have any knowledge or understanding of how the world works if you don’t have history and the voices of people,” Nelson said.
