Freedom of Speech advocate gives library talk

Banned Books Week kicks off at the Patchogue-Medford Library

Suzanne Nossel, New York, New York, September 12, 2019.

Beowulf Sheehan

Posted Thursday, September 23, 2021 12:00 am

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Suzanne Nossel is Chief Executive Officer at PEN America and author of “Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All.” Prior to joining PEN America, she served as the Chief Operating Officer of Human Rights Watch and as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. She has served in the Obama Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, leading US engagement in the UN and multilateral institutions on human right issues, and in the Clinton Administration as Deputy to the US Ambassador for UN Management and Reform. Nossel coined the term “Smart Power,” which was the title of a 2004 article she published in Foreign Affairs Magazine and later became the theme of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s tenure in office. She is a featured columnist for Foreign Policy magazine and has published op-eds in The New York Times, Washington Post, and LA Times, as well as scholarly articles in Foreign Affairs, Dissent, and Democracy, among others. Nossel is a member of the Oversight Board, an international body that oversees content moderation on social media. She is a former senior fellow at the Century Foundation, the Center for American Progress, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Nossel is a magna cum laude graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

A quick Q&A with the author

LIA: What can the audience expect from your visit?

NOSSEL: We will be talking about the threats to our freedom of expression around the world including government, censorship and ways in which our discourse has become polarized and how empowered voices muzzle controversial ideas.

LIA: Will this be an open-forum discussion?

NOSSEL: I hope to have an exchange with the audience with a chance for questions and answers. We can live together in our diverse, digitized, and divided society without curbing free speech.

LIA: What is your book about? And how does it connect to Banned Book Week?

NOSSEL: The book was published last summer and in paperback this summer. It’s about identifying the threat to free speech. We as citizens need to claim our free speech rights, defend free speech rights, and exercise free speech. My book is a guide on how that can be done.

We need to deal with those complex nuances with more information, not less. The right answer is if we disagree with [something], we shouldn’t try to bury it, [but] rather to engage with it; argue it out and have the debate.

I am looking forward to having a lively debate. I hope we can get into a robust discussion with uncomfortable issues.

Nicole Fuentes

From trolls online to cancel culture and censorship, free speech debates dominate headlines and fuel social media. Free speech is rarely understood and always fast-changing. This year’s Freedom To Read Banned Books Week celebration will run from Sept. 25 to Oct. 2 with a “Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us” theme.

The Patchogue-Medford Library was recent recipient of The Freedom to Read Foundation Grant for a Banned Books Week celebration. To celebrate the freedom to read, the library will be creating a display of banned and challenged books wrapped in kraft paper, with the reason for the challenge written on the outside.

According to the library, anyone who checks out a banned book from the display will receive an exclusive mug. Follow @pmlib on Instagram to follow the library’s Hide A Book Instagram campaign. Banned books will be placed in establishments throughout area for people to find.

This year’s main event will feature author Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America and author of “Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech For All,” at The Better Man Distilling Co. in Patchogue on Sept. 27. Doors will open at 6 p.m.

Her book focuses on free speech in a “diverse, digitized, and divided society and offers a path forward to both protect free speech and combat bigotry.”

During the event, she will speak and answer questions from the audience. To submit questions in advance and to register visit the library’s website pmlib.org or call the library at (631-654-4700). The event will also be streamed via Zoom.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here