BTW News Briefs

 2011’s Most Challenged Books

The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom has released the Top 10 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2011 [1] as part of its State of America’s Library Report [2]. OIF received 326 reports regarding attempts to remove or restrict materials from schools and library bookshelves.

Each of the top 10 titles is followed by the reasons reported for the challenges:

1. ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
   Offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
    
2. The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
   Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
    
3. The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
   Anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic; violence
    
4. My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
   Nudity; sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
    
5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
   Offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
    
6. Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
   Nudity; offensive language; religious viewpoint
    
7. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
   Insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit
    
8. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
   Nudity; offensive language; sexually explicit
    
9. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
   Drugs; offensive language; sexually explicit
    
10. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
    Offensive language; racism

Additional information on how and why materials are challenged, the difference between banned and challenged books, and more is available on ALA’s banned and challenged books web page [3].

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week [4], which will be held September 30 - October 6, 2012.

Independent Book Blogger Awards Contest Voting Opens

The Association of American Publishers and Goodreads have launched the Independent Book Blogger Awards contest to thank bloggers who are passionate about books, writing and publishing.  Four winners will receive airfare, hotel, and a pass to BookExpo America [5]. 

Voting is open in the categories of Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, Young Adult and Children’s, and Publishing Industry until Monday, April 23, at 11:59 p.m. ET, via the Goodreads website [6].

You must sign in [7] or register [8] with Goodreads to vote. The contest is being promoted via extensive print, broadcast, digital, and social media outreach efforts, including a Facebook [9] page and Twitter account @bkbloggerawards [10]. 

Griffin Poetry Prize Announces Shortlist

On April 10, The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry announced the International and Canadian shortlist for this year’s prize.

The seven finalists – four International and three Canadian – will be invited to read in Toronto on Wednesday, June 6, and will be awarded $10,000 each for their participation in the Shortlist Readings.

The winners will be announced at the Griffin Poetry Prize Awards evening on Thursday, June 7, and will be awarded $65,000 each.

The International finalists are:

• Night, by David Harsent (Faber and Faber)
   
• The Chameleon Couch, by Yusef Komunyakaa (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
   
• November, by Sean O’Brien (Picador)
   
• Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems of Tadeusz Różewicz, by Tadeusz Różewicz; translated from Polish by Joanna Trzeciak (W.W. Norton)

Canadian finalists are:

• Methodist Hatchet, by Ken Babstock (House of Anansi Press)
   
• Killdeer, by Phil Hall (BookThug)
   
• Forge, by Jan Zwicky (Gaspereau Press)

Griffin Poetry Prize book stickers are supplied free of charge to booksellers by The Griffin Trust. Contact info@griffinpoetryprize.com [11] to place an order. Winner book stickers will be available after June 7.