CRAFTSBURY – The Craftsbury Public Library will host bookseller Ben Koenig on Friday, Aug, 2, at 6 p.m., to share his research on Dorothy Canfield Fisher, the controversy surrounding her removal from the Vermont Children’s Choice Book Award, and how we make judgements about a person and their work.
In 1957 the Vermont Department of Libraries created the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award, honoring an author who at that time was world famous. When she died the following year, The New York Times said of her, “She worked in many causes, urging women to use their new-found freedoms, championing the rights of children, promoting new educational ideas and defending humanity wherever she thought it oppressed.”
In 2017, after 60 years of honoring Fisher, the Vermont Department of Libraries removed Fisher’s name from the award. It claimed that Fisher was a supporter of the eugenics movement which negatively affected many Vermonters.
Today, the allegations against Fisher are unavoidable. Bookseller, Ben Koenig has come to believe that Fisher’s good name has been needlessly maligned. He will discuss her life, her writings and the Vermont book prize formerly in her name. His extensive research also raises important questions about how we make judgments today, the dangers of going viral on the internet, and about how to navigate the complexities of judging a person’s entire life.
