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Banned Books Week (Sept 24-Oct. 1) was launched in 1982 in response to a spike in movements to censor books in schools, bookstores and libraries.
By: Elaine Anderson,
on 2/29/2008
Blog: Fahrenheit 451: Banned Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: cuba, freedom of speech, librarians, freadom, ernest hemmingway, gabriel garcia marquez, ernest hemmingway, freadom, gabriel garcia marquez, Add a tag
There isn't much to report on concerning Cuba's Freedom to Read from my personal experience there. I did learn that there is a great emphasis on education and literacy. Whether or not that translates into freedom to read or free thinking is best left with Freadom, an organization which stands up for Cuban librarians and others who have been jailed for supporting the freedom to read.
A quick visit to a public library in Havana revealed books in worn condition. 
The Cuban International Book Fair is a celebration of literacy and many families take the time to visit. It is definitely a "must do," if in Cuba in February.
Surprising to me was the literacy campaign, which Castro initiated in 1961. It is reported that "eleven months later, 707,212 people had learned to read and had written letters to President Castro to prove it and say thank you." For more information visit a Photo report: Literacy and computer literacy in Cuba.
As a postscript, may I recommend a couple of authors for the "Banned Book Challenge?" Although Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born in Columbia, he began to align himself with the Cuban revolution which reflected his Utopian politics. He spent time in Cuba and eventually became a person friend of Fidel Castro.
Ernest Hemmingway lived out his last days in Cuba. Visitors to Cuba will find a museum dedicated to his life and work and numerous drinking establishments that claim that Hemmingway drank there. Take a tour of Old Havana on Hemmingway's trail. He has been honoured by the people of Cuba who regard him as one of their own. Ironically, according to Study World's entry on Ernest Hemmingway, his father was a strict man who censored what his children could read.
By: Betsy Bird,
on 5/17/2007
Blog: A Fuse #8 Production (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Don't Blame Me, If They Make a Book About It I Want Peter Sis To Create It, I Voted for Kodos, Add a tag
And really, at heart, don't we all want a library that resembles a monstrous otherworldly creature bent on worldwide destruction? Today, and for your viewing pleasure, we present a model of the proposed Czech National Library.
Kinda makes the Twin Tower proposals look tame in comparison, eh?
A million thanks to Your Neighborhood Librarian who had the wherewithal to compare this library both to Kang and Kodos from The Simpsons as well as to a slightly out-of-date selection of delicious spotted dick.
Green swiss cheese. That's what it really is. HA! Got to say it before anyone else.
Wait, wait, wait! It's the cheese from Jeff Kinney's, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Bingo! I should let him know someone wanted to turn it into a library.
You say, "Surprising to me was the literacy campaign, which Castro initiated in 1961. It is reported that "eleven months later, 707,212 people had learned to read and had written letters to President Castro to prove it and say thank you.""
John Derbyshire was right: "Wherever there is a jackboot stomping on a human face there will be a well-heeled Western liberal to explain that the face does, after all, enjoy free health care and 100 percent literacy."