with moderator and write/educator Benin Lemus, bookstore manager/book buyer Robert Gibbs; children’s book author Andrea Loney; community library manager Mark Totten

Panel Participants include: moderator and writer/educator BENIN LEMUS; bookstore manager/book buyer ROBERT GIBBS; children's book author ANDREA LONEY; public library manager MARK TOTTEN

 Flintridge Bookstore hosts LET FREEDOM READ: A Banned Books Week Panel, led by moderator and writer/educator Benin Lemus. She is joined by Flintridge Bookstore manager/book buyer Robert Gibbs, children’s book author Andrea Loney, and La Cañada Flintridge Public Library manager Mark Totten. From their unique perspectives, panelists will explore this polarizing issue and discuss, among other topics, why books continue to be banned, the harm censorship causes, and their own personal or professional experiences regarding banned or challenged titles.

Panel moderator Benin Lemus says: "Book banning isn't just about taking books off shelves; it's about severing our connection to our fellow citizens - the ones we know and the people we will never meet. One of the most powerful outcomes of reading is that it creates a sense of unity that has the capacity to change us for the better. When we read, we become more fully realized people. We must guard that right at all costs." 

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. The national event highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, authors and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship. The American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles lists of challenged books as reported in the media and submitted by librarians and teachers across the country. Here are some of the most challenged books of 2022:

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Reasons: depiction of sexual abuse, claimed to be sexually explicit, equality/diversity/inclusion content

Flamer by Mike Curato Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

Looking for Alaska by John Green Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content, depiction of sexual abuse, drugs, profanity

MEET OUR PANELISTS:

BENIN LEMUS was born in California and raised in Portland, Oregon. She earned her B.A. in English from Bennett College in North Carolina, an MFA in Film and Television Production from the University of Southern California, and a teaching credential in Secondary Education from Mount Saint Mary’s University. She is a 2022 Inaugural Workshop Fellow with Obsidian Magazine’s O|Sessions: Black Listening–A Performance Master Class. Her work was published most recently in Márọkọ́: Journal of African Poetry and TORCH Literary Arts, for which her submission was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Benin’s work as a poet intersects with her vocation as a public school teacher and librarian. In today’s polarized political and social landscape, she believes people need to read more books and push back against the erasure of this country’s fractured past and promising future.

ROBERT GIBBS has been a manager at Flintridge Bookstore for more than a decade, where he is also a book buyer. Gibbs is a screenwriter and a creator and host of The Junto Presents, a speculative fiction audio drama podcast. He has a Master of Letters and an MFA in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance from Mary Baldwin College in association with the American Shakespeare Center.

ANDREA J. LONEY’s children’s books include BUNNYBEAR, an ALA Rainbow List title and an ALA Banned and Challenged title (2019); the Caldecott Honor winning DOUBLE BASS BLUES; the NAACP Award  nominated biography TAKE A PICTURE OF ME: JAMES VANDERZEE!; the biographies VIP STACEY ABRAMS: VOTING VISIONARY and CURVE AND FLOW: THE  ELEGANT VISION OF LA ARCHITECT PAUL R. WILLIAMS; and most recently, the futuristic book series ABBY IN ORBIT. She received her MFA in Dramatic Writing at New York University, and then ran away with The Big Apple Circus for a year before coming to CA. She has worked for the film, television, and gaming industries, mostly at The Walt Disney Company. Now, she teaches computer and writing classes and travels across the country for speaking engagements.

MARK TOTTEN has been the manager of the La Cañada Flintridge (LCF) Library since 2010, guiding the Library through highs, such as the centennial celebration in 2013, to lows, such as sidewalk service during the recent pandemic. In these thirteen years, Library services have evolved from providing mainly print books to offering the downloadable format. Totten continues to work with his staff on these constant changes. He has worked for the LA County Library since 2003. Prior to LCF, he was the Library Manager at Westlake Village Library. At the Alhambra Public Library, he worked as both a private ESL tutor and a classroom instructor for adults learning conversational English. He received a Masters in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University.