Author Adam Szetela will discuss how efforts to diversify children’s and young adults’ literature, while well-intentioned, has also created unexpected challenges for literary freedom during a virtual discussion on Oct. 21.

The free, public presentation, “That Book Is Dangerous! Literary Freedom in the Age of Social Media,” is from 4:30 to 6 p.m. The lecture and Q&A will be available via Zoom.

Szetela is the author of “That Book Is Dangerous! How Moral Panic, Social Media, and the Culture Wars Are Remaking Publishing,” published in August 2025 by MIT Press and  distributed by Penguin Random House.

The event is sponsored by the Heterodox Academy chapter at SIU Carbondale. For more information, email Jonathan Bean, professor of history, at jonbean@siu.edu