Facebook Twitter Instagram Linkedin
Shop
Support
Search Facebook Twitter Instagram Linkedin

Banned Books Week 2025

Banned Books Week at KVML starts on Sunday, October 5, 2025, with a day of provocative 

programming in partnership with the Literature of War Foundation and Indiana Landmarks.

This year’s kickoff invites the public to a full slate of thought-provoking events

designed to explore the impact of censorship, storytelling, and the freedom to read.

Sunday, October 5 | Kickoff Events 

2:00 PM | Panel Discussion at KVML

The Body, the State, and the Sentence: Who Gets to Tell the Story?
Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library | Free & Open to the Public

Moderated by veteran and LitWar Podcast host Michael Jerome Plunkett,

this panel explores censorship, institutional power, and narrative authority with acclaimed authors:

Joseph Earl Thomas (Sink, God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer)

Matt Gallagher (Youngblood, Empire City)

Natalie Lima (Men Paid Me to Eat, Letras Boricuas Fellow)

Steven Dunn (Potted Meat, water & power)

Book signing to follow.

Click here for More Info & Tickets

6:00 PM | Author Talk at Indiana Landmarks

The Dreams and Furies of Frank Lloyd Wright
Indiana Landmarks | Doors open at 5:30 PM | Free with Registration | Zoom option available

Award-winning journalist and biographer Paul Hendrickson (Plagued by Fire)

will offer a revealing look at Frank Lloyd Wright’s lesser-known complexities.

Book signing from 7:00–7:30 PM.

Click here for More Info & Tickets

Tuesday, October 7 | Panel on Censorship & the Press

KVML will also host a Panel on Censorship, continuing the conversation on free expression. 

The panel will include journalists: Bob Basler, Eunice Trotter, Durrell Hall, John Krull, and Paul Hendrickson.  

This discussion will examine censorship’s effect on literature, journalism, and civic life.
Click here for More Info & Tickets

Wednesday, October 8 | Cat’s Cradle: A Curator’s Talk with Chris Lafave

Join curator Chris Lafave for a lively and thought-provoking exploration of Cat’s Cradle—

Kurt Vonnegut’s hilarious and haunting novel about religion, weaponry, and the end of the world.

Whether you’ve read it once, a dozen times, or not at all, this talk will

give you fresh insight into one of Vonnegut’s most enduring works.

 “Nothing in this book is true. Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.” – KV

 Free with Museum Admission | Open to the Public | Starts at 6PM

Click here for More Info & Tickets

KVML Activist in Residence: Paul Hendrickson

Throughout the week, Hendrickson will serve as KVML’s Activist in Residence,

engaging the community with public talks and conversations on truth-telling,

journalism, and literary resistance in a world where censorship still looms.

Kickoff: Sunday, October 5, 2025 Locations:

2:00 PM – KVML, 543 Indiana Ave

6:00 PM – Indiana Landmarks, 1201 Central Ave

Tickets: Free for members; nominal fee for general public
Book Signings: Immediately following each event

Kathi Badertscher, PhD

Director of Graduate Programs at the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
Kathi Badertscher, PhD, is Director of Graduate Programs at the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Dr. Badertscher teaches a variety of BA, MA, and doctoral courses, including Applying Ethics in Philanthropy and History of Philanthropy. She has participated in several Teaching Vonnegut workshops and is a member of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library. Dr. Badertscher has been a guest speaker on ethics in philanthropy, including at the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners – Indianapolis Council; Association of Fundraising Professionals – Indiana Chapter; and Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University, Tianjin, China. In 2019 she received IUPUI Office for Women, Women’s Leadership Award for Newcomer Faculty. In 2019 and 2020 she received the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Graduate Teaching Award.
Dr. Badertscher’s publications include “Fundraising for Advocacy and Social Change,” co-authored with Shariq Siddiqui in Achieving Excellence in Fundraising, 5th ed., 2022; “Insulin at 100: Indianapolis, Toronto, Woods Hole, and the ‘Insulin Road,’ co-authored with Christopher Rutty, Pharmacy in History (2020); and three articles in the Indiana Magazine of History: “A New Wishard Is on the Way,” “Evaline Holliday and the Work of Community Service,” and “Social Networks in Indianapolis during the Progressive Era.” Her chapters on social welfare history will appear in three upcoming edited volumes on the history of philanthropy, including “The Legacy of Edna Henry and Her Contributions to the IU School of Social Work,” Women at Indiana University: Views of the Past and the Future, edited by Andrea Walton, Indiana University Press, 2022 (forthcoming). Dr. Badertscher is also the Philanthropy and Nonprofits Consulting Editor for the forthcoming Digital Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, edited by David J. Bodenhamer and Elizabeth Van Allen, Indiana University Press, 2021. Dr. Badertscher is an active volunteer in the Indianapolis community. At present, she is a Coburn Place Safe Haven Board Member and a Children’s Bureau/Families First Brand and Marketing Advisor. Dr. Badertscher holds the MA in History from Indiana University and the MA and PhD in philanthropic studies from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Volunteer With KVML

Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library Volunteer Application

Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions about this application’s content.