Banned Books Jam Session

Friday, October 2nd (5:00-6:30 p.m.)

Powell's Books
1218 S. Halsted St.
Chicago, IL  60607

free, open to the public

You are invited to come to a Banned Books Jam Session at Powell’s Books that happens during Banned Books Week. Local writers, musicians and artists working in visual art and music celebrate Banned Books Week during which passages from banned books and literary works inspired by banned books will be performed. Participants include Whitney Scott, Elizabeth Harper, Vittorio Carli, Janina Ciezadlo, Carolyn Curtis Magri, Bob Rashkow, and special guests. Texts to be read and used as inspiration during the creative writing activity include Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston.

From the America Library Association website: “Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.”

This Banned Books Jam Session is part of the Tenth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival. Chicago Calling is a multi-arts collaboration festival; during the Seventh Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival people in Chicago work with people outside of Chicago -- both here in the U.S. and abroad. These collaborations include a range of art forms, such as music, dance, film, literature, and intermedia -- and they are prepared or improvised. Some Chicago Calling events involve live feeds between Chicago and other locations.

The 2015 Chicago Calling Arts Festival is part of the 20th Annual Chicago Artists Month, which highlights the work of hundreds of artists throughout Chicago with performances, exhibitions, open studios, tours and neighborhood art walks. The 20th annual Chicago Artists Month (CAM) celebrates the City as Studio: from October 1 – November 15, 2015. Join this community-contributed showcase of Chicago's artists and creatives and experience art in the parks, dance in the neighborhoods, installations in the alley, and concerts on the front porch. CAM is presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events in collaboration with the Chicago Park District and numerous community partners.

Links:

• Banned Books Week
  
• Chicago Artists Month
  
• Chicago Calling
• I Refuse To Not Read This Book (Chicago Calling 2013 event)
• Intergenerational Banned Books Week Performance Event (Chicago Calling 2014)
• Librotraficante en Pilsen (Chicago Calling 2013)
• My Favorite Banned Books Abecedarian Read-Out (Chicago Calling 2010 event)