About this event
LearningAnnual Saul Goldstein Memorial Lecture
Event Details
Thursday, November 12, 2026, 6 – 8pm
Main Dining Room,
The Faculty Club
41 Willcocks St, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3
Speakers
Professor Ira Wells
Description
Join us on November 12 for our Annual Saul Goldstein Memorial Lecture featuring Professor Ira Wells, author of On Book Banning: Or, How the New Censorship Consensus Trivializes Art and Undermines Democracy.
Over the last several years, libraries have emerged as the front lines in cultural clashes over identity, the relationship between citizens and their governments, and the meaning of literacy. While “parents’ rights” groups call for the removal of what they describe as “LGBTQ indoctrination,” some school libraries have culled thousands of books (especially ‘classics’) for their perceived retrograde values. Against this rising tide of censorship, in which would-be censors portray books as sources of “harm” and libraries as sites of contagion, this talk will offer snapshots from the long history of book banning and present arguments for pushing back. At a moment when literacy itself may be imperilled, and illiberal political forces seek to dictate who can read what, there has never been greater urgency to defend intellectual autonomy and reaffirm our freedom to read.