The author of "The Handmaid's Tale" at the Writers' Congress in Krakow addressed the painful issue of censorship of her book.

To burn a book is to burn a part of the human spirit, and burning and indexing books are becoming increasingly common, said Margaret Atwood during the 91st PEN Congress in Krakow. She added that the Canadian PEN Club is protesting against the list of banned books, which includes her "The Handmaid's Tale."

The Canadian writer, vice president of the International PEN Federation, joined the audience remotely at the Kijów cinema in Krakow for the opening ceremony of the 91st PEN Congress . Atwood said that while working on her speech, she received information that her book "The Handmaid's Tale" had been added to the banned reading list by the Edmonton, Alberta, school board . She clarified that it had been banned from schools and libraries by order of the provincial government.

"The reason? The alleged pornography. It's quite funny. The book was much more often criticized for not being pornographic. The sexual scenes in it are not sensual at all. They're not sexy because they're not meant to be. After all, I'm talking about a puritanical regime. So a small uproar erupted in the Canadian media and continues, as this is the first-ever attempt at a mass book ban across an entire Canadian province, " noted the author of "The Handmaid's Tale."

She added that she was "in excellent company" on the list, pointing to other banned titles, including Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" and George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four."

- Apparently Alberta does not want young people to think about dictators - the writer commented.

She emphasized that PEN Canada protests against these bans.

Atwood's speech focused primarily on freedom of speech in literature. She pointed out that when dictatorships begin to grow in power, artists are among the "first victims of firing squads." She argued that this stems from artists saying things that autocrats don't want to hear, and "they certainly don't want others to hear them either."

"This happens regardless of whether the autocrat is right-wing or left-wing, religious or secular. Artists pose a threat to such people because their work reveals the fullness and complexity of humanity, of people both good and bad. It is precisely this fullness of humanity that autocrats seek to destroy, only to replace it with propaganda that promotes perfect images of autocrats," Atwood said.

She added that one of the first signs of autocrats taking power is an attempt to subjugate writers and artists by censoring and dictating what art they should create.

"The Handmaid's Tale" is a dystopian novel published in 1985 about the nation of Gilead, established in the United States. Some of its citizens—those capable of conceiving—are forced by the government to serve as handmaids, bearing children for the families of government officials. The novel was adapted into a television series of the same name, starring Elizabeth Moss, which ran for six seasons. Its plot expanded beyond the events of the original book.

This isn't the first time Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" has landed on a banned books list. Last November, the AP reported that education officials in the US state of Florida included the book among 700 titles removed from school libraries or banned from lending. This was explained as a result of a law introduced in 2023 that allows parents to interfere with school book collections.

The 91st Congress of the International PEN Federation began in Krakow on Tuesday, under the theme "The Power of Free Speech." The event brings together writers and delegates from PEN centers from around the world to discuss contemporary challenges facing literature and seek answers to the question of how to use it to build a common space of understanding and solidarity. The debates are open to the public.