Chris Crutcher, a Spokane author, will be celebrating Banned Books Week at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library on Friday, Sept. 30 starting at 4 p.m.
Banned Books Week takes place annually the last week of September. The event advocates free and uncensored information; it also brings awareness to the problems of censoring literature. Banned Books Week features books that have been subject to an attempted banning.
All ages can attend the event. Crutcher will meet with teenagers at 4 p.m. in the library Community Room where teens will have the chance to chat with him and eat pizza provided by the library. At 5:30 p.m. Crutcher will speak about his experiences with his books being banned, and his opinions about it.
Crutcher, a graduate of Eastern Washington University, has had more than one of his publications banned. One of Crutcher’s more popular books is Chinese Handcuffs, a fictional story about a high school teenager who struggles to deal with his brother’s suicide. His most recent book, Angry Management, was temporarily banned by Kershaw County School District in South Carolina. Linda Donnelly, an English teacher at CHS, has had Crutcher speak to her class previously and is familiar with his books.
“They often get banned because his characters are teens dealing with adult issues such as rape, suicide, and drug abuse, and the powers-that-be see that this isn’t appropriate for teenagers,” Donnelly said.