The Open Road Blog

Editor’s Note: Deb Caletti speaks out on behalf of Banned Books Week. Deb is one of thirty-six authors behind the epic, inventive novel Hotel Angeline: A Novel in 36 Voices. Read more about the book here or visit her website to see more of her works.

I recently heard from an ACLU report that my book The Queen Of Everything was banned in a Texas school. Wow – I was honored. After all, it meant I would be joining the ranks of some amazing writers who’ve had books banned: Shakespeare and Mark Twain, John Steinbeck and Maya Angelou, Arthur ...

Editors note: Bestselling authors speak out on behalf of Banned Books Week, September 24-October 1, by sharing their favorite banned books and more.

Loren D. Estleman is the award-winning author of more than sixty-five novels, including mysteries and westerns.  His most enduring character, Amos Walker, has been featured in twenty novels and his adventure novel, The High Rocks was nominated for a National Book Award.  Before “sounding off” on which banned books surprised him the most, Estleman thanked us for “sending the latest list of The Damned”.

I’m never surprised by any of the choices, however innocuous some ...

As part of our conclusion to Banned Books Week, Open Road Media is proud to present this excerpt from The Drowning of Stephan Jones by Bette Greene, another one of the most frequently challenged books in the United States. The young adult novel tackles the theme of homophobia in small-town America. Its vivid portrayal of prejudice and violence has long attracted attention of censors. As Greene herself says in this special Open Road video, "ideas are dangerous for people [who live] in little boxes." Banned Books Week Collection

Today for Banned Books Week we are proud to share an excerpt from The Color Purple, which was recently released for the first time as an ebook. Alice Walker's elegant, deeply felt epistolary novel about a young black woman's coming-of-age in the segregated south, ignited tremendous controversy almost immediately after its release in 1982. Many felt that Walker's novel presented an unfair portrayal of men and were disturbed by the novel's take on female sexuality and friendship. A frequently assigned text in AP English, The Color Purple has been challenged in a number of school districts, including Oakland, CA, ...

Editor’s Note: Barbara Hambly speaks out on behalf of Banned Books Week. Barbara is a New York Times bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction, as well as historical novels set in the nineteenth century. Read more about her fascinating books and watch videos of the author here.

DON’T READ THIS BOOK!

If one believes the content of fiction to be the intellectual equivalent of heroin, I suppose it would make sense to say, “Don’t read that, it’ll corrupt you,” without reading it oneself. Some people do, in fact, become addicted to or corrupted by ideas – as some ...

Today for Banned Books Week we bring you an excerpt from Bette Greene's young adult classic Summer of My German Soldier. The book remains one of the most frequently challenged books in the U.S., with would-be censors often citing the book's ending and its theme of forbidden friendship between a Jewish girl and a Nazi prisoner of war as material unsuitable for young readers. Learn more about Bette Greene and the true story behind Summer of my German Soldier on her Open Road author page and official website.
Banned Books Week Collection

Editor's note: In light of Banned Books Week, we asked the authors of Hotel Angeline to comment on some of their favorite banned or challenged works of all time. Here’s what they said:

"My favorite banned books are by my fellow young adult writers, especially those by friends and cohorts such as Sonya Sones, Stephen Chbosky, Chris Crutcher, Sherman Alexie, and the great Judy Blume, whose books aim for truth and not sensationalism.  Young adult writers are at the front lines of censorship, while, too, having an audience that needs the power of honesty more than anyone."—Deb ...

Today’s featured excerpt for Banned Books Week is Sophie’s Choice by William Styron. William Styron is widely considered one of the preeminent American writers of his generation. First published in 1979, Sophie's Choice is the winner of the 1980 National Book Award. It was also made into an Academy Award–winning film of the same name. The book has been banned from many libraries throughout its publication history. As recently as 2002, the book was pulled from the shelves of the La Mirada High School Library in California by the Norwalk-La Mirada High School District because of a parent's complaint ...

Editor’s Note: Sean Beaudoin speaks out on behalf of Banned Books Week. Sean is one of thirty-six authors behind the epic, inventive novel Hotel Angeline: A Novel in 36 Voices. Read more about the book here or visit his website for more fodder for banning.

I find that I want to be banned now more than ever. To that end, please read this slowly, and with due attention. If you care about me at all—even a little bit—I’m sure by the end you will consider tossing me (in the form of crates of my books purchased at full ...

Today’s featured excerpt for Banned Books Week is Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. Jean Craighead George loved nature from an early age, and she has drawn from that passion in her more than one hundred books for children and young adults. Julie of the Wolves won the Newbery Medal in 1973. The inclusion of Julie of the Wolves in elementary school reading lists has been challenged several times due to parental concerns with a graphic scene within the book. (To read more about this, with spoilers, click through to an interesting review.)

Read an excerpt from the ...

Editor's note: Author Pat Conroy has witnessed his books being challenged and banned in a variety of settings. Read a letter he wrote to the editor of the Charleston Gazette in response to one such incident in 2007, shared in honor of Banned Books Week.

October 24, 2007

I received an urgent e-mail from a high school student named Makenzie Hatfield of Charleston, West Virginia. She informed me of a group of parents who were attempting to suppress the teaching of two of my novels, The Prince of Tides and Beach Music. I heard rumors of this controversy ...

Editor’s Note: Lisa Alther speaks out on behalf of Banned Books Week. Lisa is the bestselling author of five novels, among them the critically acclaimed Kinflicks, and a family memoir, Kinfolks: Falling Off the Family Tree. Read more about the author here.

Recently I saw a list of the top 100 banned, censored, or challenged books.  It is very distinguished, featuring some of my favorite books, five by Nobel Prize winners.  The title of Most Banned should probably go to Of Mice and Men, challenged over 50 times.  Such attacks are most often provoked by vulgar or profane ...

Today’s featured excerpt for Banned Books Week is Candy by Terry Southern. Terry Southern (1924–1995) was an American satirist, author, journalist, screenwriter, and educator and is considered one of the great literary minds of the second half of the twentieth century. His bestselling novel Candy (1958) is a spoof on pornography based on Voltaire’s Candide. It established Southern as a literary and pop culture icon.

Initially banned in France and England, Candy pushed all of America’s post-war puritanical buttons and became a bestseller. Read an extended excerpt from the book below.

Banned Books Week Collection

Editor’s Note: Richelle Mead speaks out on behalf of Banned Books Week. Richelle Mead is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of urban fantasy books for both adults and teens. Read more about her books here.

People have banned books for various reasons throughout human history. Sometimes it's offense over language, violence, or sexual content. Sometimes it's because books put out messages that challenge governments, religion, or other societal ideas. Whatever the reason behind it, banning books is still a type of censorship; it takes away someone's choice to read the book and make up his ...

“Without freedom of speech, there is no freedom.”

—Bette Greene

Today marks the start of Banned Books Week, a weeklong celebration of the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Sponsored by the American Library Association since 1982, this week shines a light on the benefits of intellectual freedom and raises important questions about the themes, ideas, and concepts resonating—for better or for worse—in the cultural consciousness.

In anticipation of the week ahead, we asked a diverse collection of authors to share their thoughts and experiences related to censorship. Hit play to see Pat Conroy, Bette Greene, ...