Some of the greatest contemporary classics to ever grace our shelves have been books of a revolutionary, taboo and many times, banned viewpoints. “Catcher In the Rye,” “Of Mice and Men” and “Fahrenheit 451” are all classic novels that were once banned and now considered some of the most important pieces of literature of our time.

Chris Crutcher, author of nine banned books – mainly for dealing with controversial topics such as teen sexuality – will be on campus to kick off Banned Book Week on Monday.

He will be speaking about the stories he writes and his feelings about censoring literature.

“Without freedom of expression, there is no freedom at all,” he says. “I think the censors don’t know it, but they hurt themselves as much as they hurt anybody else when they start banning books.”

Karen Lawson, a librarian at Parks Library, says Banned Book Week is an event that has been around for 23 years and is sponsored by the American Library Association, American Booksellers Association and the Association of American Publishers.

“The groups sponsor the week to draw attention to the danger that exists when your rights are closed to express yourself in a free society – a freedom to express your own opinion, even if it’s unpopular,” Lawson says.

Lawson said she believes banning and censorship start when parents are concerned with book content – mainly books with a lot of vulgar language.

“A parent can just not allow their child to read that book, but they shouldn’t impose their viewpoint on everyone else,” Lawson says.

“It’s important for everybody to be able to express themselves – it’s really about freedom of expression.”

As a student, Crutcher went to high school and college in the 1960s and 1970s, but says censorship was more looked-down-upon then and wasn’t as big of an issue as it is today.

“There weren’t a lot of books getting banned. I think people who thought books should be banned were considered a little kooky,” he says.

He believes people should be judicious about what they talk about with their kids, but the problem with censorship is when others try to decide what is right or wrong for a large group to read.

“I can’t imagine an issue that isn’t better served being talked about. In other words, the minute I start to censor something it puts me in this place, it tells my kids or everyone around me that I don’t want to talk about it or it’s an issue that I’m afraid to bring up. The minute that happens, it has a lot more power,” he says.

When talking about the controversial issues in his books, Crutcher thinks more of these issues as stories than issues.

“You certainly have to have conflict to have a good story. I think it just comes naturally that some of those issues come in,” Crutcher says.

He says a lot of the issue-oriented stuff started coming in with his second book while he was also working as a child and family therapist in a child abuse project at a Mental Health Center in Spokane, Wash.

“A lot of those kinds of issues that were happening in families became more prevalent in my real life and became prevalent in my writing,” he says.

He wants his readers to feel they have read a good story and see it as a story that could be true even though it’s fiction.

“I do go back to my own history sometimes just to get some of the funny stuff when I’m looking for the point of view of a teenager. Usually I have to go back to my own history to get that one,” Crutcher says.

“Different kids and adults connect with stories for different reasons and the trick is to tell the best story that you can tell and then just let the connection happen.”

His lecture, “When Real Life Fiction meets the Censor” is Monday at 8 p.m. in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

Banned Book Week officially begins Sept. 25.