'Public book burnings': Margaret Atwood comments on 'The Handmaid's Tale' Alberta book ban

Celebrated Canadian author Margaret Atwood is speaking out after her award-winning dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” was included on a list of more than 200 books removed from public school libraries under the Canadian province of Alberta’s new school restrictions. 

In July, Alberta's education ministry ordered school libraries to remove "materials containing explicit sexual content" by 1 October. 

In response to this equally dystopian ruling, Atwood wrote on X, “Get one now before they have public book burnings,” and released a new short story online that satirizes the book ban.  

The story focuses on two "very, very good children" named John and Mary, who “never picked their noses or had bowel movements or zits” and who “married each other, and produced five perfect children without ever having sex.” 

John and Mary ignored "forgiving your enemies and such; instead, they practised selfish rapacious capitalism". Atwood added: "The Handmaid's Tale came true and Danielle Smith found herself with a nice new blue dress but no job." 

This is a reference to both the blue garb worn by the wives of the high-ranking commanders in “The Handmaid's Tale” and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who has backed the new directive to keep out sexually explicit content.

However, Smith has recently stated that Edmonton's public school board was practising a form of "vicious compliance" and had gone over the top in following the directive. She told reporters late last week that the province was happy to reissue its directive to the school boards which misunderstood it. 

Other classics that the Edmonton Public School Board announced were being removed from school libraries include Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", George Orwell's "1984", Alice Walker's "The Colour Purple", and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World".