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Alan Moore will be speaking at a reading event, which is part of a greater campaign to prevent the closing of the St. James Library in Moore’s hometown of Northhampton.  The library is one of eight that may be closed by the local council as part of spending cuts imposed by a reduction in government funding.

Moore was quoted by the Northampton Chronicle:

I am absolutely against the closure of any library – particularly in the St James area which has had enough taken away from it already. I joined the library in Abington when I was five and all the books available gave me a broad reading experience – without Northampton’s libraries I would not be the writer I am today. I am very concerned about the kids today which might grow up without this access. I am very against taking literacy away from people. Education must not be a privilege for the well-off.

As governments become increasingly strained in their budgets, libraries are often easy targets and subject to closure in attempts to balance the books.  We’ll see how many others on the comic book industry stand up to fight for their local libraries and stand against this disservice to local communities.