Author Maya Angelou, who will speak at UC Riverside on Oct. 22, shared some thoughts on Banned Book Week in a phone interview Friday.

Banned Book Week is an annual event by the American Library Association celebrating freedom of speech. It ends Saturday.

“I’m always sorry that people ban my books,” she said. “Many times I’ve been called the most banned. And many times my books are banned by people who never read two sentences. I feel sorry for the young person who never gets to read. …

“Open the library. Let him or her go in. And the adult, the teacher or the parent, should be strong enough to be asked, ‘What does this mean?’ And brave enough to say, ‘Well, I don’t know if you can get all of this right now, but I can tell you this. And then later on you’ll come to me again, or when I think you are ready, I’ll raise it myself.’ ”

Angelou was speaking from Winston-Salem, N.C., where is on the faculty of Wake Forest University. Her memoir “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” was published 40 years ago and has been removed from libraries. It deals with such topics as childhood rape and teen parenthood.

“There’s a poster in my office which has a photograph of Mark Twain, Judy Bloom, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Maya Angelou. These are the banned books.”

The poster above, a quote from “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” is a free download to celebrate Banned Book Week.

from: www.pe.com

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