Join us for an evening with best-selling author Laurie Halse Anderson, our keynote speaker for Central Illinois Reads: Freedom to Read.National Book Award finalist and New York Times best-selling author Laurie Halse Anderson has been honored for fighting for intellectual freedom by the National Coalition Against Censorship. She is an eloquent advocate, and we are honored to host her for our first-ever Central Illinois Reads partnership.
Free and open to the public.
Registration is requested, but not required. https://forms.gle/ffKe8TLuaHhrq3387
Audience Q&A after her talk, and her books will be available for sale and signing.
Anderson's books cover tough topics for teens: Sex. Violence. Suicide. Trauma.
They've been the subject of censorship -- just like countless other works in what's currently a flood of book bannings across the U.S.
Anderson noted in a 2022 New York Times article about book bannings: “By attacking these books, by attacking the authors, by attacking the subject matter, what they are doing is removing the possibility for conversation. You are laying the groundwork for increasing bullying, disrespect, violence and attacks.”
The Freedom to Read is essential to our democracy, but also under attack.
Central Illinois libraries are joining together to encourage you to exercise your intellectual freedom.
Get a library card. Read outside your comfort zone. Unite against book bans.
Central Illinois Reads partners include: Peoria Public Library, Chillicothe Public Library, Dunlap Public Library District, Fondulac Library District, Illinois Prairie District Public Library, Morton Public Library, Pekin Public Library, Bradley University, Methodist College and Neighborhood House.
Event Venue
Peoria Public Library Main Library, 107 NE Monroe,Peoria,IL,United States