Listen in on one of BPL's most popular art programs: a theater workshop where, once a week, budding thespians come together to read plays, talk about character motivations, and dig into some surprisingly emotional and political topics.

• Read a transcript of this episode on our website.
• Join fellow thespians at Central Library's theater workshop. Or, find a creative writing workshop at branches across BPL.
• Read along with the theater workshop by checking out the plays on our booklist.

The Library needs your help to protect our funding or risk losing over 16 million dollars. Send a letter to your elected officials. 

Help us keep our libraries open by fighting for city funding. Write to your city leaders! Or, send a letter on behalf of Queens Public Library or New York Public Library.

We revisit an episode from January 2021 in honor of National Library Workers Day, and ask: what do librarians do all day? When they're not planning programs or working the reference desk, these librarians are also obscure trivia players, birders and ... sword fighters! 

Read a transcript here.

• Have a minute? Vote for Borrowed and Banned in the Webby's! We were nominated for an award in the "Best Writing for Podcasts" category. 
• Celebrate National Library Workers Day by thanking your favorite library worker or attending one of BPL's National Library Week events.
• Listen to "On the Frontlines," an episode from our Borrowed and Banned series about library workers fighting for the freedom to read.
• Check out these lists of hobby books for adults and for kids.
• Read our blog posts about birding with kids and historical birding in Prospect Park.
• Not for the faint of heart: Learned League.

Help us keep our libraries open by fighting for city funding. Write to your city leaders! Or, send a letter on behalf of Queens Public Library or New York Public Library.

Teens and older adults are perhaps the two age groups you might think have the least in common. But a new program at BPL seeks to bring the two generations together ... by having them debate.

Read a transcript of this episode on our web page.

Resources mentioned on this episode:

• Learn more about services for older adults at BPL and programs for teens!
• Listen to "Bridging the Gap," a podcast series on our BKLYN Community Audio feed and check out these books about debate.
• Take this very short survey to let us know what you think about Bridging the Gap: Intergenerational Debate at BPL.

Help us keep our libraries open by fighting for city funding. Write to your city leaders! Or, send a letter on behalf of Queens Public Library or New York Public Library.

Brooklyn has 62 neighborhood libraries, each with a distinct architecture, culture, and soul. To kick off the new season and to celebrate our audio stories coming home to Brooklyn, we'll take a tour of the borough with the help of our neighborhood libraries and some of our stalwart patrons who visited all 62 of them ... in a matter of days!

• Read a transcript of this episode.
• Take our Browse the Branches challenge! Not in New York City? You can read your way through the branches with this book list.
• Help us keep our libraries open by fighting for our city funding. Write to your city leaders! Or, send a letter on behalf of Queens Public Library and New York Public Library.
• Did you miss our dedicated series about book bans? Never fear. You can binge every episode of Borrowed and Banned now. Start with our first episode.

Help us keep our libraries open by fighting for city funding. Write to your city leaders! Or, send a letter on behalf of Queens Public Library or New York Public Library.

Student activists in York, Pennsylvania organized a silent protest when hundreds of books were banned from their classrooms, paving the way for lasting change in their community. In this final episode of the series, we tackle the challenge head-on: from encouraging open dialogue about the books on our shelves to the ongoing work of protecting the freedom to read. 

Read the transcript here.

Our call to action for this episode:

How will you use the stories you’ve heard over the course of this series to protect the freedom to read? Send a voice message to podcasts [at] bklynlibrary [dot] org and tell us what you’re seeing in your community, or what you want to see. We might play your voice on an upcoming bonus episode, so be sure to introduce yourself with your name, your age, and your location. 

More resources:

• Watch Edha and Christina's TEDx Talk and follow their advocacy organization, EmpowerED. 
• Read about the new "Fight Book Bans Act" introduced in Congress. 
• Learn about PEN America's work to catalog book bans, including a recent report that identifies a culture of fear and intimidation and cumulative book ban data from 2021 to 2023.
• Writer George M. Johnson wrote about BPL's Chief Librarian Nick Higgins as a 2023 TIME100 Next Person of the Year.
• Check out every book mentioned on our Borrowed and Banned series! (Psst. You can check them out with a Books Unbanned library card.) And, listen to our 2022 episode about the launch of Books Unbanned and the history of book challenges at BPL.

Help us keep our libraries open by fighting for city funding. Write to your city leaders! Or, send a letter on behalf of Queens Public Library or New York Public Library.

Library workers often risk their livelihoods when they speak out against censorship, spurring community members to pick up the fight for intellectual freedom. We tell the story of how one Louisiana parish came together to defend their library amidst book challenges, tip lines, and even sign burning.

Read the transcript here.

Our call to action for this episode:

• Find the people in your community who care about public libraries and get together with them.

More resources:

• EveryLibrary Institute is an organization that seeks to build voter support for libraries. Learn more about their support of St. Tammany Library Alliance here. 
• Book Riot and EveryLibrary teamed up to survey parents about their perceptions of public libraries and book bans. Read the full results of the survey here.
• Read Emily Drabinski's essay about St. Tammany Library and a report in the Louisiana Illuminator about the chaotic regularity of book challenges in the parish. 
• Most people oppose book bans, according to surveys from the American Library Association and CBS.
• Check out this list of challenged and banned children's books.

Help us keep our libraries open by fighting for city funding. Write to your city leaders! Or, send a letter on behalf of Queens Public Library or New York Public Library.

Maia Kobabe's debut memoir, Gender Queer, was the most frequently banned book in 2021 and 2022. We talked with em about what it's like to be on the recieving end of so many challenges, and the importance of public libraries.

Read the transcript here.

More resources:

• Check out Gender Queer.
• Find Maia's resources for defending Gender Queer, and eir recent comic about book bans and libraries.
• Read The Washington Post's article on book bans.

Help us keep our libraries open by fighting for city funding. Write to your city leaders! Or, send a letter on behalf of Queens Public Library or New York Public Library.

Despite being one of the most frequently banned authors, Toni Morrison’s work has inspired countless others to tell stories outside the mainstream. We take a closer look at Morisson's writing, her legacy, and her impact on the anti-censorship movement.

Read the transcript here.

Our call to action for this episode:

• Learn how you can support and defend public libraries at Libraries for the People.

More resources:

• Read Toni Morrison's books. If you're a young person, you can apply for a Books Unbanned card to check out digital library books for free.
• Listen to Toni Morrison's full 2016 talk that was part of the BPL Presents series Brooklyn by the Book, co-curated by Community Books, BPL Presents & Congregation Beth Elohim.
• Watch Toni Morrison's speech when she accepted PEN America's PEN/Borders Literary Service Award in 2008.
• Learn more about the National Coalition Against Censorship's Student Advocates for Speech program.

Help us keep our libraries open by fighting for city funding. Write to your city leaders! Or, send a letter on behalf of Queens Public Library or New York Public Library.

George M. Johnson talks about their debut Young Adult memoir All Boys Aren't Blue, the support of their family, their love of Toni Morrison, and the importance of standing against book bans. 

Read the transcript here.

Resources:

• Check out All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson. 
• Read about Johnson's family supporting their book when it was challenged in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.
• Access other banned books with our free Books Unbanned library card for teens.

Help us keep our libraries open by fighting for city funding. Write to your city leaders! Or, send a letter on behalf of Queens Public Library or New York Public Library.

Our call to action for this episode:

• Talk about the books that are important to you, even if they aren’t challenged.
• Stay informed about what books are being challenged in your area by subscribing to Book Riot's Literary Activism Newsletter. Each week, journalist Kelly Jensen writes about the latest in book banning trends, stories, and reports from across the country. 

More resources:

• Read the new "classics," selected by teens. 
• If you're a young person, you can join the Intellectual Freedom Teen Meetup, BPL's monthly virtual meeting to talk about the freedom to read.
• Check out Dr. Emily Knox's Book Banning in 21st Century America and her research on challenges to diverse books.
• Listen to our full interview with Mike Curato.

Read the new "classics," according to teens.

Help us keep our libraries open by fighting for city funding. Write to your city leaders! Or, send a letter on behalf of Queens Public Library or New York Public Library.

Mike Curato talks about his award-winning graphic novel Flamer, his writing practice, and how it feels to have his story vaulted into national headlines as parents, politicians, and school boards campaign to remove his book from school and library shelves.

Read the transcript here.

Resources:

• Check out Flamer from BPL, or other books by Mike Curato.
• See what books were most frequently challenged in 2022, according to the America Library Association.
• This conversation touches on suicide. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or is in crisis, you can talk to someone at the suicide and crisis lifeline. Just call 988. It’s free, and it’s available 24 hours a day.  

Help us keep our libraries open by fighting for city funding. Write to your city leaders! Or, send a letter on behalf of Queens Public Library or New York Public Library.