EVENT: The Harry Ransom Center hosts public programs.
WHEN: Various dates throughout November and December.
WHERE: Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin, 21st and Guadalupe streets; Jessen Auditorium in Homer Rainey Hall at The University of Texas at Austin, 21st and Whitis streets; Bates Recital Hall at The University of Texas at Austin, 23rd and Trinity streets.
BACKGROUND: Events are free and open to the public. The Ransom Center’s Charles Nelson Prothro Theater has limited seating. Line forms upon arrival of the first person, and doors open 30 minutes in advance.
______________________________
Poetry on the Plaza: “Bohemian Rhapsodies: Poems of Greenwich Village”
Wednesday, Nov. 2, noon, Ransom Center
The Ransom Center presents the Poetry on the Plaza event “Bohemian Rhapsodies: Poems of Greenwich Village.” This program is held in conjunction with the Center’s exhibition “The Greenwich Village Bookshop Door: A Portal to Bohemia, 19201925,” which runs through Jan. 22. Refreshments will be served at this event.
“A ‘Smut’ Sampler: A Light-Hearted Reading of Selections from Some Notorious Banned Books”
Thursday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m., Jessen Auditorium
The Ransom Center presents an evening with Isaiah Sheffer as he hosts readings from works featured in the exhibition “Banned, Burned, Seized, and Censored.” The program features actors René Auberjonois and Kristen Vangsness. They will read from works including “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” “Ulysses,” “Jurgen” and “Tropic of Cancer.” Heard on public radio stations across America, Sheffer is co-founder and artistic director of Symphony Space and director and host of “Selected Shorts.” Tony Awardwinning actor Auberjonois has acted in a variety of theater productions, films, and television programs, including “Benson,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “The Practice,” “Judging Amy” and “Frasier.” Vangsness currently stars in “Criminal Minds” and “Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior.”
“The Future of Independent Bookselling: The View from Austin”
Thursday Nov. 17, 7 p.m., Ransom Center
The Ransom Center presents a discussion between Steve Bercu of BookPeople, Susan Post of BookWoman and Russell Etchen of Domy Books about the future of independent bookstores in Austin and beyond. This program is held in conjunction with the Ransom Center’s exhibition “The Greenwich Village Bookshop Door: A Portal to Bohemia, 19201925,” which runs through Jan. 22.
Music from the Collections: “Façade”
Monday, Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m., Bates Recital Hall
The Ransom Center presents a performance of music from the Ransom Center’s collections. The University’s New Music Ensemble performs pieces including Edith Sitwell and William Walton’s “Façade” (1922), with an introduction by Robert Freeman, Susan Menefee Ragan Regents Professor of Fine Arts. The Edith Sitwell collection, including material from “Façade,” is housed at the Ransom Center.
Poetry on the Plaza: “Winter”
Wednesday, Nov. 30, noon, Ransom Center
The Ransom Center presents the Poetry on the Plaza event “Winter.” As the fall semester winds down, feel the chill in the air as readers share poems themed around the shortest season in Austin. Refreshments will be served at this event.
Curator’s Tour: “Banned, Burned, Seized, and Censored”
Thursday, Dec. 1, 7 p.m., Ransom Center.
Assistant Director and Curator for Academic Programs Danielle Brune Sigler leads a tour of the exhibition “Banned, Burned, Seized, and Censored.” How did hundreds of thousands of books, pictures, plays and magazines come to be banned, burned, seized and censored in the span of less than 30 years? This exhibition reveals the rarely seen “machinery” of censorship in the United States between the two world wars. Using tactics from extra-legal intimidation to federal prosecution, censors from the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, New England’s Watch and Ward Society, the Post Office Department and the Treasury Department waged war on “objectionable” literature. Larger-than-life personalities battled publicly over obscenity, “clean books” and freedom of expression while writers, agents and publishers attempted to navigate the increasingly complex world of American censorship.
High-resolution press images are available.
