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‘BANNED Books Week’ is an American (USA) initiative that has captured my interest a long time ago, because of my enduring work in the field of literature.
I have followed this initiative, over the years, with some trepidation and tolerance; but only recently, when I met with E. R. Braithwaite, author of ‘To Sir with Love’, did the impulse present itself to write on the subject, mainly because books by Braithwaite were at one time banned in South Africa. The Guyana connection brought the (American) initiative nearer home. Another reason for raising the subject publicly in Guyana was my attendance of the ceremony in the Botanic Gardens on October 2, 2012 commemorating the 143rd birth anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948).
The event was so inspiring that I went away to refresh my knowledge on the Great Soul. One of the issues that beckoned me was finding two books about Gandhi that were banned, namely, ‘Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India’ (2011), a biography by Joseph Lelyveld, and the novel, ‘Nine Hours To Rama’ (1962) by Stanley Wolpert.
Also, in previous articles, I had cause to celebrate the Birthday of Books and the 50th anniversary of some popular titles, the writing of which led me to our current topic, ‘Banned Books Week’.
Those reasons and the fact that other countries — like the UK, Finland, and Norway — and organisations like Amnesty International are now participating in the initiative have triggered this composition.
‘Banned Books Week’ is “an annual awareness campaign that celebrates the freedom to read; draws attention to banned and challenged books; and highlights persecuted individuals (Wikipedia).”
The week-long commemoration falls between September 25 and October 2. Books are challenged or banned for the following reasons, namely politics: Religion, age-appropriateness, morality, race, sex and violence.
Popular ‘favourite’ books once banned or still banned in some places and for various reasons, are listed below.
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll
• Black Beauty (1877) by Anna Sewell
• The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
• Catch-22 (1961) by Joseph Heller
• The Da Vinci Code (2003) by Dan Brown
• Doctor Zhivago (1957) by Boris Pasternak
• The First Circle (1968) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck
• Lolita (1955) by Vladimir Nabokov
• Madame Bovary (1856) by Gustave Flaubert
• The Metamorphosis (1915) by Franz Kafka
• Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) by George Orwell
• Not Without My Daughter (1991) by Betty Mahmoody
• The Satanic Verses (1988) by Salman Rushdie
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
• The Witches by Roald Dahl
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
• To Sir with Love by E. R. Braithwaite
There are numerous interesting stories of books that were once banned, or are currently being challenged, now being used in learning institutions around the world.
‘Banned Books Week’ is an important reminder of how fortunate we in Guyana are to have books available for education, entertainment, and pure reading pleasure.
(To respond to this author, either call him on (592) 226-0065 or send him an email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com)
I have followed this initiative, over the years, with some trepidation and tolerance; but only recently, when I met with E. R. Braithwaite, author of ‘To Sir with Love’, did the impulse present itself to write on the subject, mainly because books by Braithwaite were at one time banned in South Africa. The Guyana connection brought the (American) initiative nearer home. Another reason for raising the subject publicly in Guyana was my attendance of the ceremony in the Botanic Gardens on October 2, 2012 commemorating the 143rd birth anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948).
The event was so inspiring that I went away to refresh my knowledge on the Great Soul. One of the issues that beckoned me was finding two books about Gandhi that were banned, namely, ‘Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India’ (2011), a biography by Joseph Lelyveld, and the novel, ‘Nine Hours To Rama’ (1962) by Stanley Wolpert.
Also, in previous articles, I had cause to celebrate the Birthday of Books and the 50th anniversary of some popular titles, the writing of which led me to our current topic, ‘Banned Books Week’.
Those reasons and the fact that other countries — like the UK, Finland, and Norway — and organisations like Amnesty International are now participating in the initiative have triggered this composition.
‘Banned Books Week’ is “an annual awareness campaign that celebrates the freedom to read; draws attention to banned and challenged books; and highlights persecuted individuals (Wikipedia).”
The week-long commemoration falls between September 25 and October 2. Books are challenged or banned for the following reasons, namely politics: Religion, age-appropriateness, morality, race, sex and violence.
Popular ‘favourite’ books once banned or still banned in some places and for various reasons, are listed below.
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll
• Black Beauty (1877) by Anna Sewell
• The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
• Catch-22 (1961) by Joseph Heller
• The Da Vinci Code (2003) by Dan Brown
• Doctor Zhivago (1957) by Boris Pasternak
• The First Circle (1968) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck
• Lolita (1955) by Vladimir Nabokov
• Madame Bovary (1856) by Gustave Flaubert
• The Metamorphosis (1915) by Franz Kafka
• Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) by George Orwell
• Not Without My Daughter (1991) by Betty Mahmoody
• The Satanic Verses (1988) by Salman Rushdie
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
• The Witches by Roald Dahl
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
• To Sir with Love by E. R. Braithwaite
There are numerous interesting stories of books that were once banned, or are currently being challenged, now being used in learning institutions around the world.
‘Banned Books Week’ is an important reminder of how fortunate we in Guyana are to have books available for education, entertainment, and pure reading pleasure.
(To respond to this author, either call him on (592) 226-0065 or send him an email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com)
What’s Happening:
The current issue of The Guyana Annual magazine will be dedicated to Braithwaite, author of ‘To Sir with Love’. Tributes, reviews of his publications, and related articles are invited for possible inclusion in the magazine. You may also submit poems, short stories and articles of interest. For further information, please contact me at the above telephone number or/and email address.
