Alison Law kicks off ‘Bookmarked’ series with Lois Reitzes on ‘City Lights’

September 23rd, 2024

FILE – Amanda Darrow, director of youth, family and education programs at the Utah Pride Center, poses with books that have been the subject of complaints from parents on Dec. 16, 2021, in Salt Lake City. In Georgia, school districts have banned books that address certain issues, such as racism and LGBTQ issues. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

We’re thrilled to introduce a new regular series on “City Lights” featuring one of our favorite contributors. Alison Law and Lois Reitzes kick off the “Bookmarked” series by discussing Banned Books Week and one of Atlanta’s preeminent festivals celebrating the freedom of ideas and the power of words, the Decatur Book Festival.

Atlanta-based writer, editor and communications specialist Alison Law runs a content marketing agency in Atlanta. A self-proclaimed book evangelist and unapologetic author ally, she covers the literary beat for publications like “The Bitter Southerner” and WABE’s “City Lights.”

Here are a few of the books that Law and Reitzes discussed during their “Bookmarked” conversation:

“That Librarian” by Amanda M. Jones
“Stacey Speaks Up” by Stacey Abrams and illustrated by Kitt Thomas
“Letters to a Biographer” by Joyce Carol Oates
“Baking in the American South” with Anne Byrn

The American Library Association (ALA) has designated Sept. 22–28, 2024, Banned Books Week. While banning books is not a new phenomenon, the number of books being challenged and removed from school and public library shelves in the U.S. has grown exponentially in the last three years.

Another organization that is tracking the number of book bans and actively taking legal action against them is PEN America. Law attended PEN America’s inaugural “Unified Voices Summit” in Florida this past July. She shared what she learned from educators, parents and students at the summit who have been leading grassroots efforts to fight censorship and defend free speech. Florida leads the country in the number of books banned. Books about race and by authors of color, as well as stories dealing with sexual orientation and gender, or written by LGBTQ+ authors, are often the targets of book bans. In Florida, they even banned a children’s story about book banning — “Ban This Book” by Alan Gratz!

The Decatur Book Festival returns this Oct. 4–5. Check out the full 2024 schedule here.

While registration for festival events is not mandatory, they encourage attendees to register for different activities online to help estimate attendance. The Keynote, featuring Joyce Carol Oates with Joe Barry Carroll, and the Kidnote, featuring Stacey Abrams in conversation with Katie Rinderle, are likely to be at or over capacity. Getting the tickets via the event website doesn’t guarantee you a seat, so plan on arriving early to all festival events.