Wake Now in the Fire is a graphic novel by librarian Jarrett Dapier and artist AJ Dungo that fictionalizes the 2013 censorship of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis from Chicago Public Schools. Grounded in archival research, FOIA requests, and interviews with protest participants, the narrative follows students organizing demonstrations and read-ins to defend their right to access the banned work. The creators interweave the censorship battle with coming-of-age drama, exploring how administrative suppression creates forbidden-fruit appeal among students. The work examines broader patterns of book banning in American schools while demonstrating youth agency in cultural resistance. Though peripherally relevant to dark alternative intellectual culture through its engagement with institutional power and resistance narratives, the book’s primary focus is educational freedom rather than the theoretical frameworks central to Catastrophe Ballet’s editorial scope.
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