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Study Group: Banned Mystery Novels, Social Anxiety and Freedom of Expression - This offering is currently full please add yourself to the waitlist.
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Many mystery novels have appeared on banned or challenged lists, including works by Dashiell Hammett and Patricia Cornwell. During class we will discuss the importance of intellectual freedom and access to controversial literature and how crime fiction reflects social anxieties and debates about violence, morality and politics. Participants are asked to read one or both “banned” works: Body of Evidence, Patricia Cornwell (1991) and/or Looking for Alaska, John Green (Young adult novel) (2005).
*Collaboration with OLLI’s Banned Books Week
Tim Richards, a retired librarian, has been an OLLI member since 2011. He is co-facilitator of the Syd Kaufman Mystery Authors SIG. His widespread interests include cooking, nature, gardening, and reading diverse genres. Joanne Brant recently retired from 32 years of teaching Constitutional law at Ohio Northern. She reads excessively.
If you do not see the "Request Offering" or "Add to Waitlist" button, there are three possible reasons. 1) Registration may not be open 2) You have not added a Membership to your cart or renewed your membership 3) You are not logged in:
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Study Group: Book bans in prisons: Working toward literacy justice - Schedule: 1 Session(s) | Tu | 10/6/2026-10/6/2026 | 10:00 AM-12:00 PM
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Fee: $15.00
Sessions: 1 | Days: Tu
Dates: 10/6/2026 - 10/6/2026
Times: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Building: Online only
Room:
Instructor: Alice Horning
Renewed access to Pell grants for incarcerated people has opened educational opportunities. However, access to banned materials (books and others) is difficult or impossible for these students. Various organizations are working to address this censorship. This study group will offer a presentation on the challenges faced by the incarcerated seeking education and rehabilitation; efforts of the ACLU and others will make clear why literacy justice is for them an essential and potentially achievable goal.
*Collaboration with OLLI’s Banned Books Week.
Alice Horning retired from Oakland University after more than 30 years of teaching linguistics and writing and has been teaching for OLLI for five years.
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Study Group: The Banning of Dystopian Novels: Fahrenheit 451 & Parable of the Sower - This offering is currently full please add yourself to the waitlist.
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Many dystopian novels are on banned book lists. This study group will examine two very different books, evaluating parallels, differences, and what leads to challenges. Class members are asked to read one or both books: Fahrenheit 451 (1953), by Ray Bradbury, an often-banned novel about book banning in a totalitarian state; Parable of the Sower (1993), by Octavia Butler, a novel about a woman escaping a collapsing culture to found a new community. Discussion questions will be sent ahead.
*Collaboration with OLLI’s Banned Books Week
Beth Spencer has led many study groups over 10 years on a variety of topics. As a voracious reader, she is very concerned about book banning and a believer in a free press. Without the opportunity to read widely, where would we all be?
If you do not see the "Request Offering" or "Add to Waitlist" button, there are three possible reasons. 1) Registration may not be open 2) You have not added a Membership to your cart or renewed your membership 3) You are not logged in:
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Study Group: To Kill a Mockingbird as a Banned Book: Literature, Race, Memory, and Moral Unease - Schedule: 1 Session(s) | W | 10/14/2026-10/14/2026 | 3:00 PM-4:30 PM
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Fee: $15.00
Sessions: 1 | Days: W
Dates: 10/14/2026 - 10/14/2026
Times: 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Building: Online only
Room:
Instructor:
Why has Harper Lee’s beloved novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, been repeatedly challenged or banned in American schools? This seminar revisits the book as literature and as controversy: a courtroom drama, a childhood story, a racial reckoning, and a text now criticized for the very moral authority it once seemed to possess. We will examine contested passages, censorship debates, Atticus Finch, Harper Lee’s biography, and the unsettling shadow of Go Set a Watchman.
*Collaboration with OLLI’s Banned Books Week
Deb Mukherjee has been leading classes at OLLI for over a decade.
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Study Group: Young Adult Banned Books - Schedule: 1 Session(s) | M | 10/26/2026-10/26/2026 | 1:30 PM-3:30 PM
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Young adult books often have great literary merit. While the target audience is students, many are worthy reads for adults. Young adult books can make youth feel less alone and teach important truths about life. Attempts to ban them have significant implications for society. Read one of these books and be prepared to discuss their literary qualities and what aspects are causing them to be challenged: The Perks of Being a Wallflower; All Boys Aren’t Blue; or New Kid.
*Collaboration with OLLI’s Banned Books Week
Jeff Gaynor, B.A.Ed., U-M; MA. Ed. (English Language Arts) conducted dozens of book discussion groups as an elementary and middle school teacher. Now, along with volunteering with OLLI, he tutors for Washtenaw Literacy.
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