Rupi Kaur’s ‘Milk and Honey’ Among Most Banned Books in First Half of 2022-23 School Year
- With a total of 10 different blocks, it tied with “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison on a list of Penn America’s top 11 most banned books in the U.S.
Poet Rupi Kaur’s debut book “Milk and Honey,” which explores issues of sexual assault and violence, was one of the most banned books in schools during the first half of the 2022-23 school year, a recent PEN America report has revealed. “The 2022-23 school year has been marked to date by an escalation of book bans and censorship in classrooms and school libraries across the United States,” the April 20 report notes.
“During the first half of the 2022-23 school year PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans lists 1,477 instances of individual books banned, affecting 874 unique titles, an increase of 28 percent compared to the prior six months, January – June 2022.”
According to the report, instances of book bans this school year are most prevalent in Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina. “These bans are driven by a confluence of local actors and state-level policy,” the report notes, adding that “the implications of bans in these five states are far-reaching, as policies and practices are modeled and replicated across the country.” Thirty percent of the books banned in this period are about “race, racism, or feature characters of color,” the report adds, while “ 26% of unique titles banned have LGBTQ+ characters or themes.”
Published in 2014, “Milk and Honey,” is a collection of poetry and prose about trauma, love and femininity. With a total of 10 different bans, it tied with “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison on a list of the top 11 most banned books in the U.S.
Kaur has been vocal about the ban on books. At a May 3 forum hosted by the White House on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AA and NHPIs) at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., she lamented the ban, expressing concern that “there is a group of people hell bent on taking away literature that students find refuge in.”
She addressed the findings in an Instagram post as well, and highlighted that “a majority of banned books touch on themes of LGBTQ+ identities, race, gender, sexual assault, abortion, and American history.” She said she is “deeply” concerned that “there is a group of people hell bent on taking away literature that students find refuge in.” She noted how “many actually seek these books out because they’re going through those experiences themselves.” Noting how she found “comfort in literature that reflects our experiences,” she lamented the book ban. “Now that books about sexual assault and other topics are being banned, I worry for students who rely on school libraries for access to literature.”
After the breakout success of “Milk and Honey,” Kaur published “The Sun and Her Flowers (2017) and “Home Body” (2020), “both debuting at number one on bestseller lists across the world,” according to her website. “These collections have sold over 11 million copies and have been translated into over 43 languages.” Her debut book “Milk and Honey” has “surpassed” Homer’s “Odyssey” as the best-selling poetry of all time, the website added. She was also regarded as “writer of the decade” by the New Republic and recognized on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. In 2022, she released her fourth book, “Healing Through Words.”