“Freed Between the Lines” is the 2024 theme for the American Library Association’s Banned Book Week. In October, as Waynesburg University’s writers continue to celebrate and advocate for the freedom to read the words of others, we also reflect on some of the freedoms that writing offers.
Writing opens doors.
Historically, writing matters for social or professional mobility. A writer addresses the reader in a world filled with conventions of genres and reader expectations for form, structure and word choices. Understanding these writing conventions is essential for advancement.
Writing offers affirmation.
To write an essay, compile a presentation or compose a poem requires ordering one’s thoughts; examining, structuring and producing that final composition affirms that the writer comprehends new knowledge.
Writing can be cathartic.
Not coincidentally, each book on the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2023 | Banned Books (ala.org) listed by the American Library Association have been produced by authors whose struggles and traumas have directly impacted their work. When wrestling with identity or processing trauma, writing can provide a sense of resolution for a writer while also offering readers insight into others’ experiences and struggles.
The reader and writer interact across time, across perspective and experience. While writing can unite people, censorship can only divide, which is why the Waynesburg University Writing Center joins the American Library Association each year to continue to advocate for writers and readers.
For the Banned Books Writing Contest, the Writing Center asks Waynesburg writers to use their imaginations to pretend that a book they loved had been banned and respond in a composition of fewer than 500 words. Entries can be emailed to the Writing Center Administrator, Sarah Scott, (sscott@waynesburg.edu ) through October 30 at 11:59 p.m. The winning entry will be published in November’s Buzz Words.
Writing offers amazing means of pursuing freedom to process life, aid learning, advocate for others, enter a professional world, approach trauma, stretch imagination, reshape, reframe, celebrate or mourn life. Be sure to exercise your freedom.
