Porque Incineration:
Book Burning in Cuba
Class Activities
& Teacher Page

Famous Authors & Librarians Endorse
"Read A Burned Book "

Signatories of The International
..
"Read A Burned Book" Statement
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(To add your name to this list, please e-mail us at rbbc(at)4freadom.org

and include how you would like to be identified)

..
<>"There are worse crimes than burning books.
  One of them is not reading them
"

...

                        Joseph Brodsky,1940-1996

     Russian-American poet, b. St. Petersburg, exiled 1972


We, the undersigned authors and librarians, endorse the "Read A Burned Book" campaign,
and we urge freedom-loving people around the world to read the books which tyrants burn.


We especially urge young people in all lands to read and discuss the books which were ordered "incinerated" by judges subservient to Fidel Castro in 2003. The paper of books written by Guillermo Cabrera Infante, George Orwell, Martin Luther King, Jr., Carlos Franqui, Vaclav Havel, Oswaldo Paya, Pope John Paul II and many others may have been burned, but their words have flown like birds to the minds of those who yearn to be free.

Tyranny in any nation cannot long survive, nor easily arise, when the people demand to freely read. We look forward to the day when the people of a truly-independent Cuba will thrive in a land where books are not burned, independent libraries are not destroyed, and journalists are not jailed.

Carlos Franqui, Cuban Revolutionary, Author Family Portrait with Fidel, Founder and Senior Editor of Carta de Cuba.
Gisela Delgado Sablon, Executive Director of Independent Library Project of Cuba, Member of Damas de Blanco, a
group of prisonser's  wives awarded the 2005 Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament. 
Hector Palacios Ruiz, Recently-released Prisoner of Conscience, Director of unofficial Centro de Estudios Sociales
Amb. Armando Valladares, Poet and Author of Against All Hope, former prisoner of conscience in Cuba and US
                                                         Ambassdor
to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Prof. Carlos Eire, Yale; Author Waiting For Snow in Havana, Winner of National Book Award
Carlos Alberto Montaner, Author of many books, his latest being The Cubans: A History of Cuba in One Lesson.
Alvaro Vargas Llosa, Acclaimed Author, Journalist, and Senior Fellow and director of The Center on Global
                                               Prosperity at the Independent Institute.

Carolina Garcia-Aguilera, Author of Lupe Solano Mystery Series and recipient of the Flamingo Award.
Kathlyn Gay, Prolific author and writer of YA book Leaving Cuba: Operation Pedro.
Humberto Fontova, Author of Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant, and Exposing the Real Che Guevara, And The
                                         
Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him

Yvonne Conde, Author, Operation Pedro Pan, and La Sabiduria de los Nuestros.
Nat Hentoff,
Internationally-respected Journalist, Jazz Critic, and Civil Libertarian
Humberto Colas & Berta Mexidor, Founders, Independent Library Project of Cuba, ALA Members
Andrei Codrescu, Poet, Novelist, and National Public Radio columnist, recipient of ACLU Freedom of Speech Award.

Anna Maulina, President, Library Association of Latvia; Deputy Director, National Library of Latvia
Frank Kirkwood, Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada

Peggy Sullivan, ALA President (1980-81), Dean and Professor Emeritus, Northern Illinois University
Beth Hill,
Asst. Professor, University of Idaho, Librarian & American Library Association (ALA) Council member

Andrea M. Morrison, Associate Librarian, Indiana University Bloomington, ALA Council member, and author
Ellen Zyroff, Ph.D., Principal Librarian, San Diego County Library, ALA Member; ALA Councilor (2003-06)
Sandy Berman, Maverick Library Author and Honorary Lifetime member of American Library Association
Norma Montero, 10 Years at Jose Marti National Library, Havana; Manager, Huntington Park Library, CA.
Rochelle Hartman, Librarian/Blogger, La Crosse, WI
Bozena Bednarek-Michalska, Information Specialist, Nicolaus Copernicus University Library, Torun, Poland
Piotr Bierczynski, Librarian, Regional and Municipal Public Library, Lodz, Poland.
Piotr Marcinkowski, Research Departmengt, University Library, Poznan, Poland.
Ewa Bąkowska, Head of Reference Services, Jagiellonian University Library, Cracow, Poland.
Olga Karman, Author of the memoir, Scatter My Ashes Over Havana
Jaime Suchlicki, Professor, University of Miami
David Landau, Editor & Publisher, Pureplay Press, Author of "Death is Not Always The Winner."
Dolores M. Koch, Translator and book lover, New York City
Dr. Steve Marquardt,
So. Dakota State U. Dean of Libraries Emeritus, Recipient of the Butler Human Rights
                                             Award for 2006, and Co-Chair FREADOM
Susan Matveyeva, Ph.D., MLIS, Asst. Professor & Catalog Librarian, Wichita State University Libraries
Lance McGrath, Librarian and Professor, Northwest Nazarene University, Idaho
Mindy Kittay, Deputy Directory/Systems Librarian Garfield County Public Library District, CO
Jim Heckel, Library Director, Great Falls, Montana
Kathleen Daley, Director, Thomaston Public Library, Maine
Susan Flaherty, Librarian, Portland, ME
Kevin J. Gallagher, Director, Middletown Thrall Library, NY
Susan Tertell, former Chief of Central Library, Minneapolis Public Library, Minneapolis, MN  (retired)
Steve Fesenmaier, ALA and SRRT member, co-founder, WV Intl. Film Festival, 2006 West Virginia History Hero
Robert Kent, Co-Chair Friends of Cuban Libraries
Wojciech Siemaszkiewicz, Former Solidarity activist; Librarian
Radames Suarez, Spanish Language Collections/Cultural Arts Librarian, NY, ALA Member
Michael Nellis, Human Rights advocate, civil libertarian, citizen, journalist, author
Werner A. Lind,  Assistant Director, Easley Library, Bluefield College ,VA

Mark Wetmore, Initiated 1st US public library sponsorship of a Cuban independent library, in Vermillion, SD, in 2004
Walter Skold, Poet, Librarian, and Co-Chair of FREADOM, Freeport,  Maine
Elaine Anderson, Librarian, Theology Student, Fonthill, ON
Stephen Denney, Library Assistant,  U.C. Berkeley, CA
Iván Acosta, Playwright, Filmmaker. Founder of the Cuban Cultural Center in NYC
Iraida Iturralde, Poet, President of the Cuban Cultural Center of NY
Maria Angelica Martin, Professor Rowan University, Writer, NJ USA
Prof. Roland Armando Alum, Ethnologist [NJ, USA]
Jacilyn Spuhler, Local History Librarian-Archivist, Eagle Valley Library District, Colorado 
Stacie Fowler, Teen librarian, Scottsdale Public Library System, Arizona
Jeanne Bogino, Reference Librarian, Southern Vermont College, Bennington, VT

Trisha Kometer, Reference Librarian, Providence, RI ALA Member
G
aetano Abbondanza, Public Services Librarian, Glendora, CA

Becky Ames, Simpson Memorial Library, Carmel, ME
M. Decker, Librarian, Glendale, CA
Jennifer C. Dooley, San Jose State University SLIS student
Bruce Pomerantz, Librarian, Minnesota State Library
Catherine Creedon, Librarian and writer, Sag Harbor, NY
Amy Cianciulli, Reference librarian, New York
Elizabeth Scott, College Archivist, St. Michael's College, Colchester, VT.
Katherine L. Telford, MLIS Graduate student at the University of RI.
Gayle Jernigan Rogers, LMS, St. Jude Educational Institute in Montgomery, Alabama
Magdalena Szkowron, MLIS student, Poland
Marlena Lange, Librarian, Middletown, NY
Cheryl Isbister, Library Degree Program, Maine
Christina Koenig, MLIS student at Wayne State University in Detroit
Day Breitag, Writer, Pierre, SD
Glen E. DeVore, Jr. I love books and I oppose censorship and dictators (right or left)

(From this point we are adding names as they come in, regardless of affiliation)

Annette Birdsall, Youth Services Consultant, Finger Lakes Library System, Ithaca, NY
Allen B. Veaner, Library History Round Table Member and Life Member of ALA.
Wesley A. Doak, former Oregon State Librarian, Retired
Claire Poynter, Chair of Children's Services Division, Michigan Library Association
Deborah Motley, Teen Librarian, Orion Township, MI
Elaine Steinberg, Librarian, Louisville, Kentucky
Teri Lesesne, educator (MLIS professor) and reader
Gloria Garretson, Sumrall, Mississippi
Rachel Gould, Youth Services Librarian, Watertown, MA
Gary Yessin, Law School Librarian & Lawyer, Orlando Florida
Patricia Parker, Writer & Prison Activist
Matthew Reames, Librarian, Madison, WI
Andrew Teeple, Head of Technical Services, Lake County Public Library, Merrillville, Indiana











FREADOM