Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 26, 1995                   TAG: 9509260041
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BANNED BOOK WEEK ACTIVITIES

The headquarters library at 125 Sheltman St. in Christiansburg will hold "An Evening With Banned Books" tonight at 7. Playmakers and Company will read passages from the following books which have been banned or challenged in the United States: "The Lorax," "Merchant of Venice," "Light in the Attic," "Little House on the Prairie," "Catcher in the Rye," "Daddy's Roommate," "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" and "Gone With the Wind."

The Jessie Peterman Memorial Branch Library in Floyd will hold an "Evening With Banned Books" on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Floyd Theatre Group will read passages from the above titles. Each time a title is introduced the reason the book was challenged will be explained. Refreshments will be served at both events.

Begun in 1982 to promote the freedom to read, Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Association of American Publishers and the National Association of College Stores. It is endorsed by the Library of Congress' Center for the Book. The essential message of Banned Books Week is the importance of ensuring the availability of all viewpoints, unpopular or unorthodox, to all who wish to read them.