Chair Williams highlights Brooklyn Public Library Banned Books Week event
Chair describes Brooklyn Public Library's October 6 event on artistic freedom, praises artist Christopher Mays and his stained-glass works and tapestries featuring banned book characters, and notes his father Walter Dean Myers.
Before we hear about the resolutions and our oversight topic, let me say a few words about a perfect meetup of the arts and the libraries.
It happened on October 6th when the Brooklyn Library held a noteworthy event at the Central Library commemorating Banned Books Week.
In February 2024, this committee held a hearing entitled New York City Libraries Fight Against Banning Books.
In that hearing, the committee honored the remarkable work that our libraries were doing to support the freedom to read for people throughout the U.S., not just here in our city.
Our public libraries are still doing that work in the midst of an even more dire and repressive circumstance nationally, and we commend them for it.
Brooklyn Public Library's October 6th event was entitled On Artistic Freedom.
It was a panel discussion by notable and award-winning visual and performing artists, producers, and publishers.
All the panelists were outstanding as they spoke about censorship of artists and writers and performers in our current national climate.
I want to give a special shout-out to visual artist and children's book author and illustrator Christopher Mays.
Among many other works, Chris wrote and illustrated Black Cat, and I have the book.
That's my new thing, bringing books.
Illustrated Black Cat as one of the best children's books ever.
Now his newest works are displayed throughout the lobby of Brooklyn Central Library.
They are a series of large stained glass works that capture a group of New York City kids bicycling past the landmarks of the city with a
kind of youthful exuberance and freedom of collective movement under the night sky.
In the words of the library, these literally brilliant works are represented on paper in Chris's newest children's book entitled Night Ride.
Further, Chris has made 20 40 feet tapestries, which are also on display.
On them, you can see giant characters from well-known banned books, reminding us what can be lost when books are banned in schools and public libraries across the country.
As Chris said, it was important to him that his art be displayed not just in museums, but also in a public library, because he was, as he said, born into book worlds.
His father was the late and very great young adult books author Walter D.
Myers, with whom Chris worked on the well-known book-long poetic masterpiece Harlem, among other projects.
Our committee is especially happy this month that our purview is both culture and libraries because what a pair they make.