Regarding the article in today's
Knoxville News-Sentinel, I am deeply troubled that Mary Pom Claiborne, KCPL's
Assistant Director of Marketing and Communication, has such an apparently poor
understanding of censorship. She argues that excluding Julia Watts from the
festival is not censorship because some of her books are on KCPL's shelves.
Censorship is not just about banning books. Excluding an author of teen novels
from participating in a festival for teens because she has published books for
adults
IS CENSORSHIP.
Claiborne further says, "The library did not expect
Watts to read from or reference the adult material, but it didn't want to be
perceived as promoting her entire body of work at a festival for young
teens." If festival organizers did not expect Julia to read from or
discuss her adult books, then how would KCPL be endorsing her entire body of
work? Julia's mere presence at the festival is an endorsement of her so-called
"erotic" writing? The reasoning is appallingly absurd. KCPL's annual
Children's Festival of Reading has repeatedly featured authors who write for
children, teens, and adults, yet there was no concern about promoting their
whole bodies of work. What is to account for this astonishing hypocrisy?
Julia's exclusion from the festival is contrary to the principles of
intellectual freedom and professional ethics all libraries are obliged to
follow. I hope the other authors invited to participate in the festival will
follow Marilyn Kallett's principled lead and withdraw.
Edward T. Sullivan, M.S.L.S.
Friend of KCPL
