Sarah Jessica Parker Headlines Adelphi’s 2nd Writers & Readers Festival
- Delphian Newspaper
- 2 minutes ago
- 4 min read
By Skylar Dorr
Nearly 200 students from local high schools and Adelphi packed into the Performing Arts Center, along with teachers, professors and community members, on the morning of April 4 for the keynote event that kicked off Adelphi’s Second Annual Writers & Readers Festival. The university welcomed a diverse group of esteemed authors and publishers to discuss a multitude of topics, all having to do with one shared interest: books.
The event began with a conversation between moderator Adriana Trigiani, a “New York Times” best-selling author, Barbara Forste, a lifelong supporter of the arts and mother of eight now adult children, and her daughter, Sarah Jessica Parker. The award-winning actor and producer was the most highly anticipated guest of the day and likely the reason the PAC was nearly at capacity with 475 audience members.
Before the event began, Parker met with this reporter for an interview with The Delphian for a wide-ranging conversation about her experience with and opinions on literature, and more specifically, access to it in this current climate.
She said her relationship with literature began at a very early age, and was heavily encouraged by her mother, who would take her and her siblings to the community library almost every day as part of a routine.
“I am certain that one of the reasons I am so interested in other people…is because of the kinds of books that I got to read at the library,” said Parker. “And nobody said ‘you can't because I believe.’ It was all just available.”
Parker, who also recently launched her own book imprint SJP Lit, has made it her mission to cast a spotlight on underrepresented and often unheard stories and authors, as well as make them accessible to the public. She has recently produced a documentary titled “The Librarians,” which highlights the brave efforts of librarians all across the country who are fighting against book bans.
“The project came to us already in production,” Parker said during the interview.
She explained that the idea for the film originally began out of Texas and followed the story of one particular ban that had been birthed. It soon grew into a much deeper and more wide-spread issue that was happening not just in Texas, but all over the country.
“At that point we were already feeling that this idea of book bans and librarians being villains was taking hold,” Parker said.
It’s no secret that institutions of learning are being heavily scrutinized in recent months, and the issue of censorship and academic accessibility is already at campus gates across the country. The role of students and teachers is more imperative than ever, and one may wonder what exactly they can do to ensure that literature remains available to everyone who seeks it, which is exactly the question that was posed to Parker.
“I think the first thing to do is be vocal about supporting your local libraries, your librarians, librarians in public schools and in private institutions,” said Parker. She explained how “The Librarians” highlights the current, and growing, issue of libraries and librarians being heavily scrutinized while simultaneously having to deal with this narrative that they are the villains in the story. In addition to the aforementioned rhetoric, they are beginning to face danger not just in their general community, but right at their doorstep.
Parker added, “I think the second thing to do is check in with each other about the things that you want access to, to see if they are available. The minute you feel like that’s being infringed upon–your curiosity–has been limited by somebody else's choice about what is good or not good for you. I think then you have a larger conversation,” Parker said.
The actor emphasized that all of us, as a community, need to collectively be very aware of the ways in which we are trying to keep pace with actions that are affecting us. “I think when there’s so much going on, it’s hard to stay focused on one specific thing because you sort of feel like you’re putting fires out in real time everywhere,” Parker said.
Parker wasn’t the only award winner in attendance who provided a unique insight into the role of college students in relation to academic and literature censorship.
“Vote,” advised award-winning author Trigiani after the panel had concluded. “Write to your senators, congressmen and delegates, and tell them your point of view.”
With the Institute of Museums and Libraries having recently been shuttered, an institution that provides poor communities with the bridge money to keep the libraries open, Trigiani emphasized that communities need to begin getting louder. “Don’t look at party; just write to these people and say ’we’re young, we want our library system intact for our children someday’,” she said.
On April 4 and 5, Adelphi hosted not only a diverse group of speakers and individuals, but was home to some important and necessary conversations about the role of literature in today’s society. With the threat of censorship more relevant than ever, the Writers and Readers Festival allowed participants–375 over both days–to ask these questions and gain some insight not only into how important books are, but how important it is that we keep them available to us and future generations of students.