Intellectual freedom breakfast at ALA Annual Conference welcomes New Orleans journalist

The ALA Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) will host an Awards Recognition and Fundraising Breakfast on Saturday, June 23, 2018 from 7:30 – 9 a.m. at the 2018 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans.

The breakfast will celebrate IFRT award winners and raise funds to support the awards, which recognize intellectual freedom heroes and contributions. Three awards will be presented: the Gerald Hodges Intellectual Freedom Chapter Relations Award, the John Philip Immroth Award and the Eli M. Oboler Award.

The breakfast will also feature a presentation by John Pope, author of  “Getting Off at Elysian Fields: Obituaries from the New Orleans Times-Picayune,” a collection of 123 mini-biographies that mark the deaths of Crescent City society scions, artists, authors, moguls, politicians, doctors, scoundrels and assorted characters. A contributing writer for The Times-Picayune, Pope’s book ties into the distinct history of New Orleans. A member of The Times-Picayune team that won two Pulitzer Prizes, a George Polk Award, a National Headliner Award and the Medill Award for Courage in Journalism for coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, Pope will share stories about Katrina and its impact on journalists such as himself, as well as censorship in the field of journalism, the impact of “fake news” on journalism today and the importance of intellectual freedom in journalism.

 A book signing will follow the breakfast and Pope’s books will be available for purchase. 

The IFRT breakfast will also include a raffle, which will benefit the IFRT awards program. The items will be on display before and during the breakfast event.

Conference attendees can register for the IFRT ticketed-breakfast in their initial Conference registration, or add the event using the unique link in the email confirmation following Conference registration. Tickets are $20 for ALA members, other members and non-members, and $10 for IFRT members.

The Intellectual Freedom Round Table provides a forum for the discussion of activities, programs and problems in intellectual freedom of libraries and librarians; serves as a channel of communications on intellectual freedom matters; promotes a greater opportunity for involvement among the members of the ALA in defense of intellectual freedom; and promotes a greater feeling of responsibility in the implementation of ALA policies on intellectual freedom.