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Google PlayWhile some schools in the United States have been getting heat in the media for banning certain books in school for some time, a popular Canadian author is now among the affected.
Milk and Honey, the immensely popular, insanely Instagrammable first novel by Brampton poet Rupi Kaur, has allegedly been pulled from bookshelves in Texas and Oregon, allegedly due to its mentions of sexual assault.
“Over the last few months parts of Texas and Oregon have banned or attempted to ban Milk and Honey from schools and libraries. Why? because it explores sexual assault and violence experienced by a young woman,” Kaur explains in an Instagram post.
“The banning of Milk and Honey along with an ever growing list of literature is dangerously terrifying,” she continues. “Banning books is the banning of culture and experiences for everybody. I think about who I was at 21-years-old when I published Milk and Honey. 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. It’s sad this safe haven is now restricted from them.”
Since its release in 2014, Milk and Honey has sold over three million copies globally. Kaur has never shied away from writing about meaningful topics like sexual assault and mental health issues. She elaborated on this in an interview with Complex Canada last year:
“Sometimes I’m not ready to share certain things, so I was surprised [when] I was ready to share pieces about mental health and really accept that part of my journey. I think for a really long time I felt ashamed about it, because I felt like people would just not believe it. You know, they’re just like, “She gets to do all these cool things, there’s no way she could be depressed,” which is literally what I thought, and why I was in denial for so long. But then I realized, no, I have to share because it was other people sharing their experiences that made me feel seen. [I realized] this was my truth and I had to share it. I think that as I grow and change there will be other topics that will come up that I never expected to talk about.”
Despite the ban, Kaur is set to head out on her world tour soon—hitting cities in both Texas and Oregon along the way. She is also bringing the tour to Canada, with dates in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto.
