Canadian poet Rupi Kaur reacted to her book Milk and Honey being challenged or banned in schools in Texas and Oregon, calling the news “dangerously terrifying.”
On Instagram, Kaur posted a clip of an ABC News interview of her, in which she pointed out that the poems in the book deal with themes of sexual assault of women.
“It’s kind of disturbing to see the way that those poems about our experiences, about the abuse that we endure are now…the reason that the book is being banned,” she said.
Last year, parents objected to the book’s presence in a high school library in Roseburg, Oregon. Not long after, Kaur’s book was challenged by parents of students in the school district of Keller, Texas.
Kaur’s poetry collection, originally self-published in 2014, became a massive bestseller after publisher Andrews McMeel reprinted it the following year. The book remains a favorite with young readers who relate to Kaur’s sparse, confessional verse.
“Before this book reached your hands and sold millions of copies my proudest memories were and still are young women and men who used this book as a safe haven from their own experiences of sexual assault,” Kaur wrote on Instagram. “It’s sad this safe haven is now restricted from them.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
