Borrowed

Graphic novels, Haitian-American book bingo, and The Power Broker. These are just a few of the book clubs happening at Brooklyn Public Library! This episode, we take a tour around the borough to listen in on our patrons' reading habits and ask why we still read together.Read a transcript of this episode here.Further resources:Check out our book clubs happening across the borough!Want to read The Power Broker? You can join the club at Macon Library or follow along with the podcast 99% Invisible.Read books by Haitian authors for our Haitian Heritage Book Bingo, or comics in Chinese. Join a quiet reading party or an anime club for teens.Check out what our staff are reading in “The Cover Is Blue” book club.

We're pulling out all the stops for the first annual Freedom to Read Day of Action on Saturday, October 19th! Hear from libraries in Los Angeles, San Diego, Hoboken, NJ and Austin, TX about what they're doing to promote the freedom to read. And, if you're in Brooklyn, meet us on the steps of Central Library this Saturday for a book rally!You can read the transcript here. Further resources:Join Brooklyn Public Library on October 19th for our Freedom to Read Day of Action! Or check out events across the country.Visit San Diego Public Library and LA County Library online to learn about their Freedom to Read Day of Action events. And you can brush up on the California Freedom to Read Act. You can read the New York Times story about SDPL’s LGBTQ+ book displaysLearn more about Hoboken Library and the book sanctuary movement. Austin Public Library has events planned for October 19th, and a new podcast called Save the Books!

For Banned Books Week this year, we’re returning to our award-winning series, Borrowed and Banned. Because the fight isn’t over. In 2023, the American Library Association documented a 65% increase in the number of book titles challenged across the country. Listen to the first episode of the series about what happened in one Oklahoma town when their freedom to read was challenged. And how one teacher’s response caught the nation’s attention.Read the transcript here, and check out the following resources:Like what you hear? Listen to the rest of Borrowed and Banned, our award-winning podcast, series by visiting this page.We’ve got a week of programming around Banned Books Week this year. Check out our calendar and attend an event in Brooklyn!On October 19, 2024, libraries across the country are coming together for a Freedom to Read Day of Action. Learn more about how you can join!

Bedford-Stuyvesant is perhaps one of Brooklyn’s most iconic neighborhoods. Its tree-lined streets and grand brownstones have been here for over 150 years. This episode, a re-broadcast from 2019, tells the story of Bed-Stuy through the lives of three women who set down roots here in different ways: activist Hattie Carthan, writer Paule Marshall, and novelist Naomi Jackson. Read a transcript of this episode here.Further resources:Check out our list of books curated for this episode.Learn more about Hattie Carthan on our Brooklynology blog, or check out the Magnolia Tree Earth Center archive at the Center for Brooklyn History.Visit Magnolia Tree Earth Center. You can also attend their new art exhibition opening on September 7th.Read Paule Marshall's Brown Girl, Brownstones, or her 1983 essay, "From the Poets in the Kitchen."