A San Diego native will give a special reading of his book Monday to kick off National Banned Books Week in San Diego.
Matt de la Peña will read from “Mexican WhiteBoy,” which was banned by an Arizona school district in 2012, at the Encinitas Library in partnership with San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer.
The county is promoting Banned Books Week from Sept. 22-28 at all county libraries.
According to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, 4,240 book titles were targeted for censorship nationwide in 2023 alone, primarily those written by LGBTQ+ authors or people of color.
“We’ve taken a stand to support our county library staff and protect the freedom to read for San Diegans,” said Lawson-Remer, who wrote a policy to celebrate the week in San Diego.
“It is unfortunate extremists are trying to silence authors and keep books off shelves. I want all San Diegans to know that our 33 county libraries are safe places to read what they’d like.”
“Mexican WhiteBoy,” written in 2009, was one of the books banned by the Tucson School District from 2012-2017 as part of a wider far-right attack on “critical race theory” and ethnic studies programs in high schools.
Despite an eventual resounding legal defeat, similar attempts to use flimsy pretexts to ban books continue to this day — including in San Diego.
Last year, the San Diego city library in Rancho Peñasquitos was targeted by right-wing activists attempting to steal and censor LGTBQ+ books.
“The county library is dedicated to providing a collection that is both representative of our residents and also allows readers to explore the perspectives and experiences of others,” said Migell Acosta, library director of the San Diego County Library system.
“We acquire and curate materials for everyone, we provide reading materials in the county’s threshold languages as well as other languages that are actively used in the community.”
Born in National City, de la Peña has won the Newberry Medal and published six young adult novels.
The event with will begin at 6 p.m. at the Encinitas Library, 540 Cornish Drive, with the support of Empowering Latino Futures, which is part of the American Library Foundation.
“Book bans are a slam on free speech and a disgrace since so many banned books are written by and about diverse populations that are unfortunately — and falsely — seen as a threat to American society. We all must unite to stop these bans,” said Kirk Whisler, board president of Empowering Latino Futures.
Attendees have the opportunity to meet the author, listen to the reading and perhaps receive one of nearly 200 free copies of the book.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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