Oakland’s first Youth Poet Laureate finalists announced

Now that the finalists in Oakland’s first Youth Poet Laureate competition have been announced, the poets have until September to hear the final results after the last panel of judges make their decision. While waiting to find out who will be named the first Youth Poet Laureate, the finalists are preparing for the first group performance at the Art & Soul Festival this summer in Oakland.

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Banned books on display and up for debate at Oakland stores and libraries

Over the past year, according to the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, 46 books have been “banned” in the United States—taken off school and main library shelves, removed as “inappropriate” from class reading lists, attacked by bloggers and family value organizations or re-edited to replace words deemed offensive. All of these books are being showcased this week for a library and bookstore event called Banned Book Week.

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Piedmont one step closer to new Oakland library contract

With no public libraries of its own, Piedmont depends on Oakland for its books—not to mention its groceries, and access to the outside world. But the most recent contract granting Piedmonters access to Oakland’s libraries expired in 2008, and representatives of the two cities have been negotiating a new contract ever since. Though a long-term agreement is still far off, this week officials did manage to settle on one thing: a price for last year’s service

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