Last year we reached out to some of our favorite authors for candid responses about how it felt to have their books banned. This year we’ve reached into our archives to reexamine the words of the many banned authors who have graced the Powell’s blog.
Diverse, eloquent, observant, compassionate, hilarious, challenging, and wise, the denizens of the Powell’s “writers’ room” remind us of why we support banned authors and their work:
“The right words between strangers seem stronger than steel cables.”
— Luis Alberto Urrea, from his Powell's essay
Done
Their musical tastes are as one-of-a-kind as their books.
Listen to Stephen King’s “grizzly”
Powell's playlist.
Banned books (abbreviated list):
Cujo,
Carrie,
The Dead Zone,
Christine
“
When I was a teenager, I couldn't imagine a world where gay marriage was possible. I didn't even know anyone who was out! When I meet young gay people now, and they're open and confident about themselves and their relationships, it feels like a miracle to me. A miracle I can't put into words.”
“Because being in New York — indeed, being in America, or the world — [on 9/11] was as magical as it was horrible. Because in the shadow of a huge tragedy, millions upon millions of people became their better selves. We forget that, over time. But it's true.”
— David Leviathan,
on writing Love Is the Higher Law
Banned book:
Two Boys Kissing
“The most essential component of survival or achievement [is] seeing the actual, rock-bottom, elemental truth and accepting it.”
— Barbara Ehrenreich, still relevant in the
Powell's Q&A
Banned book:
Nickel and Dimed
They break barriers.
Alison Bechdel reveals in the
Powell's interview that her award-winning graphic novel,
Fun Home, was the first one Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ever published.
Banned book:
Fun Home
“Great books can make us better people, but a lot of mischief has been done by people who only read one book and took it utterly to heart.”