People gathered at the Peterborough Town Library Thursday night to read the words of author Salman Rushdie as part of a commemoration of Banned Books Week.
Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 by First Amendment and library activist Judith Krug to draw attention to censorship and to celebrate freedom of expression. Peterborough Town Library Director Corinne Chronopoulos said this was the first time she can remember the library holding a reading during Banned Books Week during her time as director.
“This is the first time and it has been great,” she said.
Chronopoulos welcomed the crowd of more than 30 people who came out to celebrate the fight against censorship and reminded them that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t allow banning books.
“What is allowed are challenges to books,” she said, explaining that challenges occur when a library member files a reconsideration form that is then reviewed by a committee. Peterborough Town Library received a challenge in 2022 to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health.” Chronopoulous said it was suggested the book be removed but the challenge was not upheld.
One of the evening’s readers, Carl Mabbs-Zeno, said the idea for a group reading of Rushdie’s work began at a Monadnock Writers Group meeting. Peterborough resident and former New York Times editor Gloria Anderson – who edited some of Rushdie’s columns – had suggested the pair do a reading of his works, although Anderson was unable to attend the event due to illness.
“I said ‘No, everyone ought to read,’” Mabbs-Zeno said. “And Corrine (Chronopoulos) did all the work.”
On Aug. 12, as he was about to start a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, N.Y., Rushdie was attacked by a man who rushed onto the stage and stabbed him repeatedly, including in the neck and abdomen. Rushdie has been the subject of several assassination attempts, and a fatwa was issued against him in 1989 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, following the publication of his book “The Satanic Verses.”
Peterborough Town Library Public Services Librarian Aimee LaRue read from an interview in the Harvard Business Review in 2005.
“I feel like there’s been a lot of interest this week,” LaRue said. “People have been looking at our display, which has brought these topics to people’s attention.”
Mabbs-Zeno said the thing that strikes him the most when reading Rushdie is his courage.
“He’s not worried about sounding short-sighted or silly,” he said. “He’s willing to say whatever he thinks the art would him say.
Mabbs-Zeno also informed the crowd they should sign a letter of support for Rushdie that was written by Anderson – who he said knows the author’s agent – thanking him for his commitment to freedom of expression.
“One of the core tenets of a public library is to fight against censorship,” he said.
Bonnie and Baxter Harris came to the event to show support for Rushdie.
“I find it abominable that literature is being banned,” Bonnie Baxter said.