On Tuesday, October 1, 2024 (6:30pm), Literati Bookstore will host an in-person, open-to-the-public event featuring the recently published book Trouble in Censorville: The Far Right’s Assault on Public Education – and the Teachers Who Are Fighting Back. Edited by Rebekah Modrak and University of North Texas professor Nadine M. Kalin, the book features 14 testimonials by public school teachers who describe being fired, harassed, or smeared for teaching historical truth and racial justice and for offering books by and about LGBTQ+ people. 

Their stories bring readers face-to-face with the human cost of these attacks, which range from social isolation to pent-up anger over institutional betrayal to the terrible toll on teachers’ mental and physical health. Educators predict the future of a generation of students who are told to walk out of the room in the face of discomfort and no longer have access to books or critical thinking about American society. Their stories of frontline resistance provide a battle plan for confronting censorship, rallying support, and mobilizing a grassroots defense of public schools.

The Literati event will feature readings by Modrak and local educators — Sarah Anton, a secondary English teacher, and Jeff Gaynor, an Ann Arbor School Board member — and a Q&A period with the audience.