If books didn’t matter, nobody would try to ban them.

That was the prevailing theme Saturday when the Tattered Cover Book Store hosted a lively panel conversation on the continuing – make that growing – importance of books.

The panel, held in tribute to the franchise’s late founder, Joyce Meskis, included U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, First Amendment Attorney Steve Zansberg and book seller Matt Miller. And it coincided with the May 7 launch of a new collection of essays called “Why Books Still Matter: Honoring Joyce Meskis.” It is edited by Karl Weber, who said of his collection: “With the nation struggling to cope with polarization, disinformation and acrimony, the power of books to inform, enlighten and inspire is more important than ever.”

The tome includes an essay penned by Hickenlooper on bookselling as a mission-driven form of entrepreneurship that can both nurture communities and enrich culture.

“Joyce Meskis was quite simply one of the greatest human beings I ever knew,” Hickenlooper said Saturday. “She stood for free speech and against censorship. One of the things she repeated several times was that the more books we put in people’s hands, the better the world is. And that is a moral North Star to live by.”

Zansberg regaled the audience with legendary stories of times when Meskis stood up to legal authorities to defend her customers’ right to privacy. Most notably in 2002, when she refused to comply with a police order to turn over the purchase history of a Thornton customer suspected of running a meth lab. Meskis protested, citing our shared constitutional right to private reading. 

Zansberg quoted Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Bender’s unanimous ruling upholding Meskis’ position, which said, in part: “Bookstores are places where a citizen can explore ideas, receive information and discover myriad perspectives on every topic imaginable.”

Any intrusion on a person’s right to buy a book, it went on, would be the end of a free press as we know it, replaced by fear that a government agent will be looking over the shoulder of everyone who reads.

“Some will fear to read what is unpopular, or what the powers-that-be dislike,” the ruling said. Fear will take the place of freedom in the libraries, bookstores and homes of the land.”

The panel also noted that the climate against free expression is under heightened assault in the current political climate. “School and public libraries are under siege,” Zansberg said, citing American Library Association data that challenges to books at public and school libraries increased by 65% in 2023.

“And it’s not just an attack on books. That is just one weapon in an arsenal that’s being wielded by conservative, anti-woke activists,” he said. “It is being used to pursue a political agenda.”

You’ve been Mirandized!

Here’s a recent Tattered Cover event I hate not to have known about: The bookstore also hosted Lin-Manuel Miranda and his father, Luis Miranda on May 13 to talk about Luis’ latest book, “Relentless: My Story of the Latino Spirit That Is Transforming America.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda is, of course, the brains behind the musical “Hamilton.” Luis is a big-time New York political consultant, but I got to know him in 2014 because of his unlikely obsession with the Broadway musical “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.” (Seriously!)

Luis flew to Denver for the 2014 opening of the reimagined musical created by the Denver Center. Luis landed at DIA, zipped through the Molly Brown House Museum in Capitol Hill, saw the performance and was back on a plane by midnight. You can read that whole adorable story at mydenvercenter.org.

Get the leather out

To mark the 10th anniversary of its “Repurpose with Purpose” program, Southwest Airlines has unveiled a sustainability exhibit at Denver International Airport consisting of pieces upcycled from Southwest’s used aircraft leather. Southwest says the national program has directed more than 1.4 million pounds of leather away from landfills since 2014.

On May 5, Meow Wolf Denver hosted its annual Absolute Rubbish Fashion Show, with designs by Kate Major constructed with repurposed Southwest leather. Designs by Major and other Denver artisans are included in the DIA exhibit.

It’s awards season

The National Endowment for the Arts has announced its latest round of beneficiaries, and the list includes $4.2 million that will go to at least 21 Colorado arts organizations. The lion’s share will got to two agencies that will further trickle the funding down: the Western States Arts Federation (aka WESTAF) will get $2.53 million to distribute, while the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (which includes the state’s official arts office) will get $947,986 to spread around.

Among individual grantees, the big winners this round are Warm Cookies of the Revolution ($100,000); the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts ($80,000); the disability-affirmative Phamaly Theatre Company ($60,000 to support its upcoming staging of “A Chorus Line”); the Colorado Seminary at the University of Denver ($50,000), and Bravo! Vail ($50,000).

Warm Cookies of the Revolution is sort of like a health club where you exercise your civic muscles. Its $100K grant will support its “Future Town Tour,” consisting of multidisciplinary arts activities that encourage civic engagement in Leadville and other small towns. It’s in partnership with the noted poet and performance artist Molina Speaks.

“This money is so helpful in the most basic ways,” said founder Evan Weissman. “We do a lot with a little, so to be able to bring significant resources to some of these towns that often feel like they are always getting resources extracted from them is just awesome.”

Elsewhere: A group called “Think 360 Arts for Learning,” in partnership with the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, will award $400,000 to 21 organizations in 10 Colorado counties in support of innovative programs that prioritize in-depth arts learning. The grantees receive up to $25,000 each and include Access Gallery, the Colorado Black Arts Movement and Standley Lake High School.

Briefly …

“The Order,” a major motion picture based on reporter-turned-Denver City Councilman Kevin Flynn’s 1990 book “The Silent Brotherhood,” will have a theatrical run in cinemas nationwide later this fall. The film, based on Flynn’s reporting of a supremacist plot to incite a devastating war against the U.S. federal government, stars Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult. “Getting my popcorn ready,” Flynn said.

Remember when we told you that faded neon sign in front of the Aurora Fox is getting a fancy relighting ceremony during the June 1 opening performance of the company’s “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical”? Well, that’s been delayed till after the June 22 performance.

And finally …

My days as a theater critic are over, but since you asked. (Wait, did you ask?)

The national touring production of Stephen Sondheim’s reimagined classic “Company” is now open at the Buell Theatre through June 2. The now 54-year-old story was novel in 1970 for its “Friends”-like poking of a 35-year-old bachelor to settle down and get married. Only now, Bobby is Bobbie. 

In many ways, suffocating societal pressure to be partnered up and married off has always been more naturally a woman’s unfortunate American story (See Harrison Butker.) And yet, even in this completely refreshed gender context, and despite incredible individual performances, and despite its almost steamrolling frenetic energy … I thought it all felt a bit empty. Maybe because the action never stops long enough to allow us a moment to feel … well, anything. Somehow, it manages to feel both contemporary and dusty all at once. How about you?