Today marks the end of Banned Books Week (Oct. 1 to 7), and we're celebrating the right to read what we choose. Our book selections include frequently banned titles, many of which might surprise you.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

Preview Party Gala | 23rd Juried Art Show

Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.
A Fundraiser for Pequot Library

Gain early access and a preview of the exhibition, and view works by local and regional artists on sale in support of the library. The party includes a silent auction, full bar and heavy hors d’oeuvres, a “bubbly wall,” and an interactive art experience. Come celebrate the return of this local favorite special event, and mix and mingle with contemporaries in the art world. Learn more about the show and our exciting companion programs here!

Click here to see our full calendar of programs & events

EXHIBITION CONNECTION

William Shakespeare, Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories & Tragedies (First Folio)
(Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed. Blount, 1623)
Pequot Library Special Collections

In honor of our newest exhibition, From William to Shakespeare: 400 Years of the First Folio, we're examining ways in which the Bard's works have come under scrutiny historically. In a previous Digital Digest, we referenced Thomas Bowdler's heavy-handed sanitizing of Shakespeare's works (click this article). It turns out that Shakespeare faced censorship even during his lifetime. In 1602, the town council of Stratford-upon-Avon banned play performances from public venues, as records from the time attest. The reason likely had to do with the power of Puritan sentiment. Read more here.

Othello in particular has rankled many readers due to its treatment of race. Is it time to reconsider Shakespeare's oeuvre due to such objectionable content? This essay from Farah Karim-Cooper, says not so fast, citing, in part, the complexity and contradictory nature of Shakespeare's views. For example, "his first Black character, Aaron the Moor in Titus Andronicus who appears a few years before Othello, speaks boldly in defence of Blackness: 'Coal-black is better than another hue/In that it scorns to bear another hue.' Yet we must contend with moments in his comedies of racist humour ('She’s too brown for a fair praise,' for instance, in Much Ado About Nothing) and misogyny (The Taming of the Shrew)." For more insights into Shakespeare's treatment of female characters, join us on Oct. 26 at 6:00 p.m. for Ophelia, Juliet, Cleopatra: Shakespeare’s Leading Ladies with Shannon Kelley, Ph.D.

BOOK PICKS FOR ADULTS

The Bluest Eye

A Parade Best Book of All Time. From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner—a powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity that asks questions about race, class, and gender with characteristic subtly and grace. Read about the controversy surrounding this title here.

>>Check me out

The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

In Margaret Atwood’s dystopian future, environmental disasters and declining birthrates have led to a Second American Civil War. The result is the rise of the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian regime that enforces rigid social roles and enslaves the few remaining fertile women. Click here to read about historic efforts to ban this novel and Margaret Atwood's defiant response.

>>Check me out

BOOK PICK FOR KIDS AND TEENS

Charlotte's Web

by E.B. White

This beloved book by E. B. White, author of Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan, is a classic of children's literature that is "just about perfect." Selected as one of America’s top 100 most-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. However, some parents have objected to its content on religious grounds, averring that animals shouldn't speak. Read more here. Ages 7+. 

>>Check me out

Little Brother

by Cory Doctorow

This book about teenagers rebelling against the surveillance state was chosen for a One School/One Book program at a school in Pensacola in 2014 but the principal vetoed it because of its positive view of questioning authority and concerns that some parents might object to scenes involving sex and violence. Ages 13+. 

>>Check me out

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SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Truman Capote, In Cold Blood
(New York: Random House, 1965)
Pequot Library Special Collections

In Cold Blood, the groundbreaking work that ushered in the nonfiction crime genre, was banned at the Windsor Forest High School in Savannah, GA in 2000. A parent spearheaded the charge, citing the book's violence, language, and sex. It was reinstated after community outcry. It's also been banned at least four times in California and elsewhere in Georgia. This article explores some objections raised in California, including the idea that teenagers already face too much violent content

DEVELOPMENT DISPATCH

Sign up today to help with our 23rd Juried Art Show Fundraiser! Please click here. Pequot Library thanks the many loyal volunteers whose hard work enables us to serve the cultural, educational, and intellectual needs of the community.

SPOTTED AT PEQUOT LIBRARY

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stephen Greenblatt joined us for the October 5 opening of our newest exhibition, How William Became Shakespeare: Four Hundred Years of the First Folio. Pictured from left to right: Adult Program Manager Charlie McMahon, co-curator of the exhibition Shannon Kelley, Stephen Greenblatt, co-curator of the exhibition/Special Collections Librarian Cecily Dyer, Executive Director Stephanie Coakley.

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COMMUNITY CORNER

Westport Moms 3rd Annual Fall Festival

Saturday, Oct. 14 (rain date: Oct. 15)
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Compo Beach, Westport

Join Westport Moms for a day of fun. It costs $20 per family.

Library Hours

Monday - Friday: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Thursday: 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Saturday: 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. 
Sunday: closed

Saturday hours returned to 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. starting in September.