The Galion Public Library is turning Banned Book Month into a hands-on night of making. On Wednesday, September 17 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, the Community Room will host Adult Craft Night: Art Against Censorship, a workshop that treats literacy as a creative tool and a civic responsibility.
Literacy is liberation, and a canvas
The evening centers on a simple idea: what we read shapes how we see the world, and what we make can speak back to it. Staff will guide participants through a short tour of protest-inspired artworks and book history, then invite everyone to create something of their own. Writing, drawing, painting, or collage are all fair game. Bring a cause that matters to you, or use censorship as your theme.
Inspiration on the walls
Expect to see touchstones from past fights over free expression. The flyer highlights the first edition cover of George Orwell’s 1984 and Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, a novel that remained among the most frequently challenged books as recently as 2024. It also nods to David Wojnarowicz’s 1989 art, photographed by Andreas Sterzing, and to homemade protest signs captured by photographer John Ramspott at a 2022 rally against book bans. These images aren’t homework. They’re prompts, reminders that art and reading often meet in the public square.
What you’ll do
• Look together at historical examples of art that pushed back against censorship
• Talk about the issues you care about, from classrooms to community spaces
• Make a piece of art that speaks in your voice, using the materials you prefer
No prior experience is needed. If you can cut, paste, sketch, or write a few lines, you have everything required.
The workshop is aimed at adults who want to connect reading with creative expression. Teens 16 and under are welcome with an adult, and families who attend together often find the conversation as valuable as the craft.
• Date and time: Wednesday, September 17, 2025, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
• Location: Community Room, Galion Public Library
• Theme: Art Against Censorship, part of Banned Book Month 2025
• Bring: Your curiosity, a cause you care about, and a willingness to make something
Looking for Local Impact
Book challenges and removals can feel abstract until they reach a local shelf. This program offers a neighborly counterpoint: a table, supplies, and a couple of hours to think aloud with other readers and makers. You leave with more than a finished piece. You leave with practice in turning ideas into visible statements, the kind that can spark conversation at home, at school, and around town.
For Galion, that’s a quiet kind of power. It starts with a book. It becomes a voice. It might even become a small movement taped to the fridge or pinned to a bulletin board, reminding us that culture is something we create together.
