Banned Books Library Celebration!

Celebrate the launch of Little Liberty Library, a free library box in Lena’s courtyard dedicated to frequently banned books. Admission is a banned book or a donation to keep the library stocked.

For more than 60 years, Caffe Lena has not only cared for free speech but presented a safe haven for it on stage—whether in the form of music, theater or the spoken word. The current national uptick in efforts to ban controversial books from libraries is a way to suppress conversation; to tame our ability to think for ourselves.

This celebration will open and close with music by Dan Berggren. Fifteen authors will each read for 3-5 minutes from titles that have been banned or challenged. Readers will be introduced by Barbara Lombardo, former editor of The Saratogian, currently a journalism professor at SUNY Albany.

Learn more about books that are currently being targeted: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/blog/here-arethe-100-most-banned-and-challenged-books-of-the-decade/

Co-sponsored by the NYS Writers Institute, the NYCLU, Yaddo, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Saratoga Springs, Temple Sinai, and the League of Women Voters of Saratoga County.