Banned Books & Bold Voices:
An Evening of Literary Freedom
Monday, October 8
19h-21h
@ the Library Room at the ACP
Join us on October 8th at the American Church in Paris for a moving and thought-provoking celebration of Banned Books Week (October 5–11), honoring the written word and the enduring importance of intellectual freedom.
This literary evening will feature readings and reflections from acclaimed authors Susan Jane Gilman, Anne Korkeakivi, and Lucy Mushita, who will share short excerpts from books that have been banned or challenged, including works by authors such as Toni Morrison, and offer personal insights into the impact of censorship on creativity and society.
The event will include a Q&A session and will conclude with a warm-hearted gathering over wine and cheese, offering space for connection and continued conversation.
Conceived by Anne Korkeakivi, author of Shining Sea and An Unexpected Guest, this event invites us to reflect on the power of literature, the value of diverse voices, and the courage it takes to write, and read, freely.
All are welcome. If you have any questions, please contact Chloé, DEIB Chair.
About the authors:
Susan Jane Gilman is the bestselling author of the nonfiction
books Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress, Kiss My Tiara, and Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven as well as the novels, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street and Donna Has Left the Building. She has provided commentary for NPR, hosted a literary radio show, and written for the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Real Simple, and Ms., among many others. She has won several literary awards, and her books have been published in a dozen languages. She teaches writing and speaks to audiences worldwide. To see her TEDx talk on the creative process, click here.
Anne Korkeakivi is the author of the novels Shining Sea and An
Unexpected Guest. Her shorter work has been published by the Atlantic, TIME, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Atlas Obscura, Travel & Leisure. Anne's op-ed for USA Today on universal healthcare and being an expat and writer was shared tens of thousands of times, and an essay about traveling in Tanzania with her family was chosen for the Best Women’s Travel Writing anthology. She is a recipient of Lois Kahn Wallace Writers and AudioFile awards and fellowships from Yaddo, Hawthornden, Cill Rialaig, Wildacres, and Norton Island.
Janet Skeslien Charles is the New York Times and #1 international
bestselling author of The Paris Library, Moonlight in Odessa, Miss Morgan's Book Brigade (called The Librarians of Rue de Picardie in the UK and Commonwealth), and the audiobook The Parisian Chapter. Her essays and short stories have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The Sydney Morning Herald, and the anthology Montana Noir. Her work has been translated into 40 languages. After graduating from the University of Montana, she got a job teaching English in Ukraine. She later came to France intending to teach for a year, and has been here for over twenty years.
Lucy Mushita is an author and public speaker who was born and grew
up in a traditional village in Southern Rhodesia (today’s Zimbabwe) during apartheid. In 1986, six years after the end of apartheid, she settled in Nancy – east France. From 1989 to 1991, she lived in Michigan, where she took French lessons at Lansing Community College. Back in Nancy in 1994, while improving her French, she embarked on writing a story inspired by the real life of an elderly woman from her natal village, which she completed in 1999, during her stay in Melbourne, Australia. On returning to Nancy, Lucy started teaching Business English in French institutions, multinationals, universities and grandes écoles. In 2008, her story, Chinongwa, was published in South Africa by STE Publishers and translated into French by Actes-Sud in 2012. Chinongwa is in 2nd print. In 2024, she published Expat Blues, a collection of comical and not so comical anecdotes arising from historical and institutional prejudice, stereotype and casual racism encountered on a daily basis. Expat Blues is going into 3rd print. Lucy lives between Sydney and Paris.
