6:30 pm - Banned Book Club Reads Maus

Inspired by a recent spike in book bannings and book burnings, the Desmond-Fish Public Library’s Banned Book Club is a new place to read and discuss banned and challenged works of contemporary literature in a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment. One Thursday each month, we will read one book that has been recently challenged, and discuss it both as a work of literature and as a subject of social conflict.

This month, the Banned Book Club will read the first volume of Art Spiegelman’s Maus. Recently banned by the board of trustees of McMinn County Schools in east Tennessee, Maus is a nonfiction graphic novel composed of interviews the author conducted with his father, a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor.

Meeting dates:
April 21 – Maus vol. 1 & 2
May 12 – TBD

Participation is available for all patrons aged thirteen and older. All skill levels and points of view are welcome. Please note: copies of Maus are in moderate demand within the Mid-Hudson Library System and may not always be available. If you would like to purchase a copy, Split Rock Books offers a discount for DFPL Book Club participants.

The book group is run by Digital Services Librarian Ryan Biracree. In addition to librarianship, Ryan has taught literature at the College of Mount Saint Vincent, Mount Saint Mary College, SUNY College of Staten Island, and Sarah Lawrence College, and served as archivist for the Academy of American Poets.

The book club meets indoors at the Library and is limited to 13 participants. Masks are mandatory inside the building for all patrons over the age of two, regardless of vaccination status. Vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test is encouraged before attending this program.

Please register in advance here.