Two Canadians among authors of most-banned books in America

Two Canadian authors have the dubious honour of appearing on PEN America’s latest list of most-banned books this year. The 11 titles have each been banned by 10 or more school districts during the 2022-2023 school year.

Tying for third place with a dozen bans is Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel, a 2019 edition of the classic dystopian novel with illustrations by Victoria-based artist Renee Nault. Also on the list with 10 bans is Milk and Honey, a 2014 collection of poems by Indian-Canadian author Rupi Kaur.

The two Canadians were joined by Britain’s Juno Dawson (2014’s This Book Is Gay) in an otherwise all-American list that included novels by Toni Morrison (The Bluest Eye) and Sapphire, whose 1996 novel Push was made into the 2009 film Precious, starring Gabourey Sidibe.

One author appeared twice in the rankings. Ellen Hopkins’ 2004 novel Crank has been banned 12 times, while her 2009 book Tricks received 12 bans. The top books on the list were Maia Kobabe’s 2019 illustrated memoir Gender Queer, and Mike Curato’s semi-autobiographical graphic novel Flamer, published in 2020. Each had been banned by 15 school districts.

All the books on the list had been banned in previous years, with Atwood’s graphic novel receiving four bans in the 2021-2022 school year, and Milk and Honey having three bans from the previous year. They were among the largest year-over-year increases.

Kaur, who was born in Punjab, India, and moved to Canada at the age of four, initially self-published the collection Milk and Honey. It contains accounts of sexual assault and violence, and uses sexual terminology.

In a press release, PEN noted that the number of book bans increased 28 per cent in first half of the 2022-2023 school year when compared to the previous six-month period. The time period saw 1,477 bans affecting 874 individual books.

Since the organization started tracking public school book bans in July 2021, it has tracked more than 4,000 book bans of 2,253 titles.

Two states continue to lead the country in book bans, with seven districts in Texas and 13 in Florida responsible for 795 bans, more than 50 per cent of the total.

“The heavy-handed tactics of state legislators are mandating book bans, plain and simple,” Suzanne Nossel, Chief Executive Officer of PEN America, said in the release. “Some politicians like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have tried to dismiss the rise in book bans as a hoax. But their constituents and supporters are not fooled. The numbers don’t lie, and reveal a relentless crusade to constrict children’s freedom to read.”

According to Kasey Meehan, the Freedom to Read Program Director at PEN America and a lead author of the report: “This book ban movement erupted precisely as many schools had begun to diversify the literature they make available to young people. Now, those books are being ripped away from students who need access to diverse ideas, information, characters, and stories. They should not be deprived of the opportunity to see themselves reflected in literature and to learn from different perspectives.”

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