DANBURY — Sam Tanenhaus, the editor of The New York Times Book Review, will speak at Western Connecticut State University on Thursday, September 28, at 6:30 pm, to highlight Banned Books Week at the university. Mr Tanenhaus’ presentation is co-sponsored by Banned Books Week, the American Democracy Project, and The New York Times.

Mr Tanenhaus said his talk, “Books and Free Speech: How far is too far?” will examine tension today between the ever-present threat of censorship and the growing literature of abuse, particularly in the area of political writing (much of it influenced by the Web and cable), which seems to have claimed center stage in the past several years.

Mr Tanenhaus has said that he has tried to show the breadth of literary culture by reviewing mass-market books as well as serious literature, along with new writers who might not have found a place in the review in the previous year.

Mr Tanenhaus worked for The Times from 1997 until 1999 as the assistant editor to the Op-Ed pages. He has also written for the Book Review and the Op-Ed page, as well as Arts & Ideas and the Week in Review.

Between his two positions at The Times, he was a contributing editor for Vanity Fair from May 1999 until March 2004, and has also been published in that magazine.

Mr Tanenhaus is also the author of Whittaker Chambers: A Biography (Random House, 1997; Modern Library paperback, 1998), which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography in 1997 and was a finalist for both the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 1997 and the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1998.

The program will be in WCSU’s Ives Concert Hall, at 181 White Street (Route 6) in Danbury. Call the university’s Office of Public Relations for additional information, 837-8486. (See related story for more events during Banned Books Week at WCSU.)