Eastern Connecticut State University to Host Banned Books Week Event

WILLIMANTIC, CT — Eastern Connecticut State University will host a Banned Books Week program Oct. 6 featuring presentations on censorship, intellectual freedom and the right to read.

The event will run from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Johnson Room, Room 204, at the J. Eugene Smith Library. It will include guest speakers, a display of banned books and other activities.

Banned Books Week, sponsored by the American Library Association, runs Oct. 4-10. This year's theme is “Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read.”

Hope-Marie Cook, head of the Curriculum Center and education librarian at Eastern, will moderate the program and discuss censorship challenges over the past two decades, drawing on her experience as an educator and librarian.

John Murphy, a longtime Eastern communication lecturer and media producer, will discuss the boundaries of free expression through historical Supreme Court cases and examples of controversial speech and media.

Amy Slowik, head of Youth and Family Learning at Russell Library, also will participate.

Isaiah Roby, an Eastern alumnus and librarian, will contribute a video presentation. Roby graduated from Eastern in 2013 and earned a master's degree in library science in 2025.

Theresa Severance, a professor of sociology and criminology at Eastern, will discuss book censorship in prisons, including access to reading materials for incarcerated people and restrictions imposed by correctional facilities.

The event is open to the campus community and the public and will examine how censorship can affect access to information, freedom of expression and the exchange of ideas.