While Banned Books Week ended on September 28, writer, director, producer—and Banned Books Week honorary chair—Ava DuVernay stresses the importance of continuing the work of amplifying marginalized voices.
DuVernay’s credits in film and television include Selma, 13th, Queen Sugar, and When They See Us. Two of her films have been inspired by frequently challenged books: 2018’s A Wrinkle in Time, based on the Newbery Medal–winning title by Madeleine L’Engle, and 2023’s Origin, centering on the life of Isabel Wilkerson, author of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.
“This banned book effort is an agenda by people who want to make some of us less free, to silence the voices of some of us,” DuVernay tells American Libraries. “We can overcome this, but we have to work together.”
DuVernay recorded a video conversation with Banned Books Week Youth Honorary Chair Julia Garnett, a student activist who fought book bans in her home state of Tennessee and now attends Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. In the video, the two discuss DuVernay’s approach to championing diverse viewpoints as a filmmaker and ways the rest of us can join and stay in the fight.
The video is available here, as well as on the Banned Books Week YouTube channel. Highlights from the video are also excerpted below.
Ava DuVernay Interview Highlights
How her younger sister Jina DuVernay, a librarian, influenced the role books have played in her career:
[Jina was] the first person in my life who I met, lived with, and knew, who loved books. She loves books like I loved chocolate when I was a little girl. She would devour them. And that sparkle in her eye—how it expanded her and empowered her as a young woman, as a young girl—she really took that as a lifelong dream and now empowers and inspires other people through her work in Atlanta, Georgia, as a librarian. And, so, I thank her for kind of opening my eyes to the wonder of books.
Film as a path to reading:
Film based on incredible books is a gateway for people who may not be reading as much or may not have books readily accessible to them. It’s a gateway for folks who have books that are being kept from them.
I think film is really a defense that allows there to be more Jina DuVernays in the world: young people who are expanded by the wonder of books.
In making A Wrinkle in Time, knowing that it’s such a beloved book, and making Origin, based on Caste—it was such an of-the-moment book—these are big responsibilities, to try to translate the vision of the author into a new cinematic vision. The real goal is to impart the story or the information and bring people back to the book. That was my goal with both of those.
How student activists can cope with feeling lonely in their anticensorship fights—often as the youngest person in the room:
First of all, I commend you. I take my hat off to you. I bow to all activists who are doing that hard work. I think the one thing to remember is, it’s lonely because that’s what leadership is. There’s someone who’s leading, and that is who we’re following. And it’s lonely at the front. It’s about building coalition and making sure that the folks around you are aware, are educated, are interested, and are leaning in.
People have different levels of engagement, and that’s okay. But even one person can have an impact…. And if I feel that kind of loneliness—that, “Gosh, I’m the only one out here doing it, and everyone else is doing this”—if you feel it and you still want to do it, you’re on the right track. And there’s nothing better than feeling like you’re on the right track. So, not easy. But glorious, you know?
