Books and Beyond: Banned books week

Banned Books Week is now in its 36th year, still championing and defending the freedom to read.

The spotlight's on banned, sequestered and burned books through history (including two from Aotearoa), as Karen and Louisa celebrate the freedom to read, and conclude that books always outlast their bans!

Listen to this episode on the Auckland Libraries podcast and read on for the books mentioned in the show.

• Karen and Louisa presented the American Library Association's list of the top ten most challenged books in 2017.

Nine banned books which feature on the Auckland Libraries poster for Banned Books Week:

• Candide by Voltaire
• The divine comedy by Dante
• Ulysses by James Joyce
• Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen
• Gargantua and Pantagruel, 1553 by Francois Rabelais
• Life and fate by Vasily Grossman
• Lolita, 1955 by Vladimir Nabokov
• All quiet on the Western front, 1928 by Erich Maria Remarque

Other books discussed:

• Into the river by Ted Dawe
• The beginner's guide to living by Lia Hills
• Safe marriage by the New Zealand journalist, socialist and safer sex campaigner Ettie Rout, which was banned in New Zealand when it was published in 1922. 
• The very popular Enid Blyton books, which were once kept in the back room by a number of Auckland librarians who thought them too lacking in literary value to offer to children.

Auckland Libraries' radio show Books and Beyond explores the world of books with guest authors, recommended reads, gems from the Central City Library basement and… beyond.

Catch us on Planet FM104.6, Sundays at 9.35pm. Listen to recent shows on the Auckland Libraries podcast.

You might also like to check out our Banned books book list on our website for more interesting banned or challenged reads.