Freedom to Read: Why Society Needs Intellectual Risk

Moderated by leading journalist and editor, Jessica Johnson, the event brings together two award-winning writers, Ray Robertson (The Right to be Wrong) and Ira Wells (On Book Banning) to examine why independent thinking is important, why access to books and ideas matter, and what’s at stake when reading is constrained. The evening also celebrates the publication of the speakers’ recent works.

Ray Robertson's The Right to be Wrong is a vigorous defense of independent thinking in an increasingly conformist, intolerant, and fundamentalist world.

Ira Wells' On Book Banning provides a lively history of literary repression and argues that today's censorship consensus trivializes art and undermines democracy.

This event is open to the public and light refreshments will be served. Book sales are courtesy of TYPE BOOKS.

About the Speakers

Jessica Johnson is an award-winning journalist and writer. In 2025, as a senior fellow at McGill University’s Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, she released “What Should the CBC Be?”, a major research project on the future of public media in Canada. From 2017 to 2023, she was editor-in-chief of The Walrus, Canada’s leading longform general interest magazine. Her columns, articles and essays have appeared in the Guardian, the Globe & Mail, National Post, the New Republic, and many other publications. Jessica teaches journalism and media studies as an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto.

Ray Robertson is the author of nine novels, seven collections of non-fiction, and a book of poetry. His work has been translated into several languages. He’s also contributed liner notes to three Grateful Dead archival releases. Born and raised in Chatham, Ontario, he lives in Toronto.

Ira Wells is an associate professor at Victoria College in the University of Toronto, where he teaches in the Northrop Frye stream in literature and the humanities in the Vic One program. He is also a writer and critic and the President of PEN Canada. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Globe and Mail, Guardian, and many other venues. His most recent book is On Book Banning: How the New Censorship Consensus Trivializes Art and Undermines Democracy.

PEN Canada is a nonpartisan organization that celebrates literature, defends freedom of expression, and assists writers in peril at home and abroad. Based in Toronto, the English-language Canadian centre was founded in 1983 and is proud to be one of nearly 140 centres of PEN International.

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