ABFE Session at Wi11 to Focus on Training to Meet Free Speech Threats

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How should a bookstore prepare for free speech emergencies — an angry customer who wants a book removed, a threatened boycott over an author appearance, a police officer seeking the titles of books purchased by a customer?

A good first step is to attend the American Booksellers for Free Expression program at Winter Institute 11, “ABFE Presents: The Tattered Cover Free Speech Training Method.” Matthew Miller, general manager of Tattered Cover, will recreate the training that is given to all new employees of the iconic Denver bookstore, which has confronted many free speech emergencies over the last 30 years.

The hour-long session will be interactive and will include an exercise during which attendees will break into small groups to discuss how to respond to a censorship case. “ABFE Presents” will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 26, in the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel’s Governor’s Square10 Room.