On Book Banning and Censorship: Jeremy Tiang at the Vancouver Writers Fest

The freedom to read is under attack. From the destruction of libraries in ancient Rome to today’s state-sponsored efforts to suppress LGBTQ+ literature, book bans and censorship arise from the impulse toward social control. Ira Wells’s On Book Banning is a nuanced historical study, a rallying cry, and a guide to resistance. He’s joined on-stage by Mike Curato—whose graphic novel about queer identity and self-acceptance, Flamer, is “one of the most banned books in America” (NPR)—and author and translator Jeremy Tiang, who will discuss the coercive forms of censorship in his home country of Singapore, where some of the authors he translates are unable to have their books published. This will be a vital conversation about freedom of speech and the state of censorship today. Moderated by Marian Botsford Fraser.