I'm Jonathan K. Parton, welcome to K-PART.

If you don't already know Nikki Giovanni, I'm not sure you're ready for this powerhouse.

A famed author and poet and a lion of African-American thought and activism, Giovanni has been on

the scene for more than five decades.

Her latest book is a tribute to libraries in the power of books entitled A Library.

In this conversation first recorded for Washington Post Live on October 5th, Giovanni extolled

the freedom books give our lives, especially that of children.

And when it comes to the efforts to ban books around the country, Giovanni couldn't be

more clear.

It's hard to fight what's going on right now because it's stupid.

It's stupid for somebody to say, well, I don't want my child to read that book.

You don't ban a book because you're afraid what your child is going to think.

You know, get over that one.

It is wonderful to see you.

Why did you decide to write this book?

Why is now the time for you to pay homage to libraries?

Library for any author, libraries are the most important part of our profession, libraries

and then critics.

And of course, now libraries are under pressure from people who don't read to then books

to provide to to to keep youngsters from getting certain books.

And I wanted to celebrate libraries, libraries and librarians are some of the most important

people that we know.

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