Canadian writer, Margaret Atwood – best known for her novel, The Handmaid’s Tale – has released a new short story in response to her novel being removed from some bookshelves in Alberta because of the province’s new rules.
In July, Alberta’s education ministry ordered school libraries to remove “materials containing explicit sexual content” by 1st October. While schools have until October to comply, some schools have already released their lists of banned books. The Edmonton Public School Board announced at the end of August that they were removing more than 200 books from school libraries including: The Handmaid’s Tale, alongside other classic works such as George Orwell‘s 1984, Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, and Aldous Huxley‘s Brave New World.
In response, Atwood shared a satirical short story that she said was “suitable for seventeen-year-olds in Alberta schools, unlike — we are told — The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Adding: “(Sorry, kids; your Minister of Education thinks you are stupid babies.)”
The biting piece of literature was shared on X (formerly Twitter). Atwood writes: “John and Mary were both very, very good children. They never picked their noses or had bowel movements or zits. They grew up and married each other, and produced five perfect children without ever having sex.
“Although they claimed to be Christian, they paid no attention to what Jesus actually said about the poor and the Good Samaritan and forgiving your enemies and such; instead, they practised selfish rapacious capitalism, because they worshipped Ayn Rand. (Though they ignored the scene in The Fountainhead where “welcomed rape” is advocated, because who wants to dwell, and also that would have involved sex and would de facto be pornographic. Well, it kind of is, eh?) Oh, and they never died, because who wants to dwell on, you know, death and corpses and yuk?”
The story’s ending also criticises Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who has been supportive of the book ban.
“So, they lived happily ever after. But while they were doing that The Handmaid’s Tale came true and Danielle Smith found herself with a nice new blue dress but no job. The end.”
Since Atwood’s critique of the book banning, it has been announced that a pause has been put on the removal of ‘sexually-explicit’ content with Danielle Smith admitting that the Edmonton school division was too heavy handed in crafting its list of banned books. The pause has been put in place “until further notice” according to Alberta’s Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides in an email to school boards.
