Gainesville City Hall Plaza,
200 E University Avenue
~ the open-air plaza in front of City Hall ~

Best-selling author, Lauren Groff, UF Professor and Author Paul Ortiz, civil rights pioneer Dan Harmeling, and other local celebrities will read from banned books of their choosing.

There will be musical interludes performed by Kali Blount and acapella women’s group Resonance between readings.

Banned books will be given away by the event sponsors in the banned books tent on site. There will be a
sponsor’s table where you can get to know the event’s sponsors better.

The venue is a lovely outdoor plaza facing City Hall. Please bring folding chairs, hats, water, and umbrellas. In case of light or intermittent rain, we will move onto the covered porch.

Book banning in our schools denies our children the right to access books with characters that look and act like them. It cuts them off from future opportunities in the larger world by not providing examples in stories of who they can be.

It also narrows our public discourse and is a form of
censorship for everyone. By gradually removing access to information and ideas it is a step on the road to authoritarianism.

Our banned book readout is a step in the other direction. When we read banned books, we un-ban them for
ourselves. When we read them aloud, we un-ban them for everyone who listens.

Contact Mary Bahr, UUFG Social Justice Council Chair, kmlisle.mary@gmail.com for more information.