City Lights in conjunction with PEN America present FROM HOWL TO NOW: BOOK BANS IN THE U.S.
Moderated by Ipek S. Burnett with appearances by Ronald K. L. Collins, Summer Lopez, David M. Skover, and Trey Walk.
During Banned Books Week, City Lights and PEN America bring human rights advocates and legal experts to discuss the alarming rise in book bans across the country. They share insights, observations, and methods to counter the suppression of books that address issues pertaining to race, gender, and sexuality. Ever timely, their conversation is a powerful call to action to stand up for the freedom to read.
Participants
Ipek S. Burnett, PhD, is the author of A Jungian Inquiry into the American Psyche: The Violence of Innocence and the editor of Re-Visioning the American Psyche: Jungian, Archetypal, and Mythological Reflections. She is a contributing writer at CounterPunch and a Turkish novelist. Dr. Burnett is the Co-Chair of Human Rights Watch Executive Committee in San Francisco and serves on the board of 826 Valencia, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting under-resourced students with their writing skills.
Ronald K. L. Collins is the co-founder and co-director (emeritus) of the History Book Festival and co-founder and co-chair of the First Amendment Salons. He is the editor of the weekly online blog First Amendment News and editor of Attention (an online journal on the life and legacy of Simone Weil) He is also the Lewes Public Library’s Distinguished Lecturer. He is the co-author of numerous books that include: “First Things First: A Modern Coursebook on Free Speech Fundamentals” as well as the book “MANIA: The Story of the Outraged and Outrageous Lives That Launched a Cultural Revolution”. Together with David M. Skover he co-authored the book “The People v. Ferlinghetti: The Fight to Publish Allen Ginsberg’s Howl”.
Summer Lopez is PEN America’s Chief Program Officer, Free Expression. She has been with the organization since November 2017 and oversees PEN America’s advocacy, research, and programming in defense of free expression in the U.S. and globally. Lopez has worked to advance democracy and human rights in the nonprofit and government sectors, including for eight years with the U.S. Agency for International Development and three years with The AjA Project, a San Diego-based nonprofit providing participatory media programming for immigrant and refugee youth. She has lived and worked in Zimbabwe, Egypt, Nepal, India, and Ghana, and holds a BA from Harvard University and a master’s in public affairs from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
David Michael Skover is the former Fredric C. Tausend Professor of Law at the Seattle University School of Law. He has taught, wrote, and lectured in the fields of federal constitutional law, federal courts, free speech & the internet, and mass communications theory. He has also taught at Seattle University School of Law and was a visiting professor at the University of Indiana Law School in Bloomington. He has authored numerous books together with Ronald Collins which include: The Trials of Lenny Bruce, Mania: The Story of the Outraged and Outrageous Lives, On Dissent: Its Meaning in America, and of course: “The People v. Ferlinghetti: The Fight to Publish Allen Ginsberg’s Howl”
Trey Walk is democracy researcher and advocate for Human Rights Watch’s US Program. In this role Trey documents and challenges threats to voting rights, access to truthful information, and civic engagement, and he collaborates with movements working to promote robust multiracial democracy in the United States. He has previously worked with Groundwork Project and served as project manager at the Equal Justice Initiative.
What Is PEN America?
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. They champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Their mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.
Founded in 1922, PEN America is the largest of the more than 100 centers worldwide that make up the PEN International network. PEN America works to ensure that people everywhere have the freedom to create literature, to convey information and ideas, to express their views, and to access the views, ideas, and literatures of others. Their strength is our Membership—a nationwide community of more than 7,500 novelists, journalists, nonfiction writers, editors, poets, essayists, playwrights, publishers, translators, agents, and other writing professionals, as well as devoted readers and supporters who join with them to carry out PEN America’s mission.
PEN America’s programs defend writers, artists, and journalists and protect free expression worldwide. This work includes research and reports on topical issues; advocacy on free expression challenges; campaigns on policy issues and on behalf of individual writers and journalists under threat; year-round festivals and events; literary awards; fellowships; and more.
PEN America, a registered 501(c)(3) organization, is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. and chapters in 10 regions.
To learn more visit: https://pen.org/
This event is made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation. To learn more visit: https://citylights.com/foundation/
