Right to Read: Readathon – Friday, April 26, 2024

A readathon—from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., at Mann Library—kicks off the “Right to Read” daylong celebration, with excerpts from banned and challenged books read aloud by students, staff, and faculty members. 

Come join us! You’re welcome to sit and listen to the whole readathon or to come and go as you please. We’ll also have free copies of a few banned and challenged books for you to take home!

Here are the list of readers and their chosen books:

9:00-9:15 AM Marla Love, Dean of Students

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

9:15-9:30 AM Ryan Lombardi, Vice President for Student & Campus Life

9:30-9:45 AM Alexander Colvin, Dean, ILR School; Professor of Conflict Resolution

Nickel and Dimed: on (not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

9:45-10:00 AM Kendra Bischoff, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson

10:00-10:10 AM Elizabeth Hays, Executive Assistant to the Provost

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

10:10-10:15 AM Amy Escalante, Undergraduate, Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management

The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas

10:15-10:30 AM Mary Pat Brady, Professor, Department of Literatures of English

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

10:30-10:45 AM Steven Jackson, Vice Provost for Academic Innovation; Professor, Information Science & Science & Technology Studies

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

10:45-11:00 AM Monica Yant Kinney, Associate Vice President for Communications

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

11:00-11:15 AM Sofia Gil, Undergraduate, Computer Science

Looking for Alaska by John Green

11:15-11:25 AM Caroline Apodaca, Undergraduate, ILR School

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

11:25-11:30 AM Lucia Caravella, Undergraduate, ILR School

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

11:30-11:45 AM Mike Kotlikoff, Provost; Professor of Molecular Physiology

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

11:45 AM-Noon Rachel Dunifon, Dean, College of Human Ecology; Professor, Department of Psychology & School of Public Policy

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Noon-12:15 PM Kathryn Boor, Dean, Graduate School; Professor, Food Science & Department of Global Development

Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

12:15-12:30 PM Matthew Kibbee, Evidence Synthesis Coordinator, Cornell University Library

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

12:30-12:45 PM Poppy McLeod, Professor, Department of Communication

The Holy Bible

12:45-1:00 PM Colleen Barry, Dean, Brooks School of Public Policy

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

1:00-1:15 PM Patricia Abraham, Africana Librarian

Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane

1:15-1:30 PM Ravi Ramakrishna, Professor, Department of Mathematics

Savage Inqualities by Jonathan Kozol

1:30-1:45 PM Brian Arnold, Indonesian Cataloger, Cornell University Library

Beloved by Toni Morrison

1:45-2:00 PM Kofi Acree, Director, Clarke Africana Library; Curator, Africana Collections

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

2:00-2:15 PM Willow Lewis, Undergraduate, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences

The Giver by Lois Lowry

2:15-2:30 PM Elaine Westbrooks, Carl A. Kroch University Librarian, Cornell University Library

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Readathon
Over the past year, the number of challenged library books has surged across the United States. Cornell University Library invites the campus community to special events on April 26, titled “Right to Read,” to honor and promote diversity of thought and expression found in books of all kinds.

A readathon—from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., at Mann Library—kicks off the “Right to Read” daylong celebration, featuring excerpts from banned and challenged books, selected and read aloud by students, staff, and faculty members. Audience members are welcome to sit and listen to the whole readathon or to come and go as they please. A selection of banned books will be on hand for attendees to take home for free.

A Conversation and Reception
Books of all kinds stimulate the imagination, enrich the mind, and provide insights into our complex world. And yet, there is a growing list of books continually being challenged and banned in schools and libraries across the U.S. In addition, nowhere is censorship more restrictive than in prisons, where books and other educational resources are direly needed for building meaningful lives and preparing for re-entry into civic life. As PEN America stated in a recent report, “carceral censorship is the most pervasive form of censorship in the United States.”

Join us from 3-4 p.m. in Mann Library 160, for this conversation about how schools, libraries, and prisons are affected by censorship and how these institutions are providing access to books as wellsprings of knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Our guest speakers include:

• Rob Scott, executive director of the Cornell Prison Education Program and an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Global Development, Cornell University
• Leslie Tabor, director of Tompkins County Public Library
• Elaine L. Westbrooks, Carl A. Kroch University Librarian, Cornell University

A reception from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. in the Mann Library Gallery immediately follows this conversation.

Please contact Wendy Wilcox at ww83@cornell.edu if you would like to participate in the Readathon.