Linnea Lieth, a junior studio arts major at UNC, used a medium of colored pencils on canvas to create a visual depiction of William Faulkner’s "As I Lay Dying" for the Banned Books Week competition.
“I loved the novel the second time I read it,” Lieth said, “I understand that communities are trying to protect through challenging books, but I think that’s wrong. All books have important things to say.”
Beginning this week, from Sunday to Saturday, the Chapel Hill Public Library, in association with the Town of Chapel Hill’s Office of Public & Cultural Arts, will host the third annual Banned Books Week.
On each day of the week, a different artistic work will be revealed. A reception was held for the artists on Friday at the Chapel Hill Public Library.
Susan Brown, the director of the Chapel Hill Public Library, brought the national event to the town of Chapel Hill in 2013. She started the Banned Books Week not only because she wanted to encourage the freedom and availability of literature to the public, but she also wanted to bring recognition to local artists in the Chapel Hill area.
“Intellectual freedom is of interest to artists as well as writers,” said Brown. “The Banned Books Week is an interesting way to bring them both together.”
Local artists from the area were asked to create and submit small scale works of art which were inspired by and promote a particular banned or challenged book. Seven winners were chosen from the submissions, with an additional award in the best youth entry category. Each of the seven winners received $100 and their works are printed as trading cards, containing the artistic piece on the front of the card and information about the artist and piece on the back.
Martha Brunstein, president of Friends of the Library, helped to raise funds for the Banned Books Campaign.
“I do everything I can to get banned books into the hands of people,” Brunstein said.