Tivoli Free Library celebrates Banned Books Week Oct 3
What do Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, JK Rowling, Toni Morrison, Aristophanes, Chaucer, Daniel Defoe, William Shakespeare, Maya Angelou and Jack London have in common? They have all written books that have been banned, deemed unsuitable for public consumption.
Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions, wrote Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas in his essay, The One Un-American Act. "It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us." Tivoli Free Library will join with other libraries nationwide to celebrate Banned Books Week (September 27-October 4). As part of its celebration of democracy and the embrace of the right to read the unorthodox and/or unpopular the library will host a free performance by stand-up poet and serial parodist Mikhail Horowitz and unapologetically French guitarist Gilles Malkine at 7 p.m. Friday, October 3.
The duo have been performing together in the Hudson Valley and beyond since 1989. They recycle literary classics, adapting them to rap,blues, and other musical idioms; they perform unlawful acts of political satire, and spoof or pay dubious homage to various subgenres of traditional American folk music. They've shared bills and/or collaborated with Peter Schickele (P.D.Q. Bach), Ed Sanders (The Fugs), David Amram, Kate Pierson (The B-52s), and Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, among others. Their work has been featured on a dozen CDs and several NPR programs.
This event was funded in part by Poets & Writers, Inc. with public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.
The performance is suitable for older teenagers and adults. It is free and open to the public. For more information, call Tivoli Free Library at 845-757-3771. The library is located at 86 Broadway in the Village of Tivoli.
