It would appear that Jeanette Winterson is not a fan of the new editions of her books.
The acclaimed English author shocked readers by tweeting a picture of several of her paperbacks, including The Passion and The Powerbook, burning in a bonfire.
Absolutely hated the cosy little domestic blurbs on my new covers. Turned me into wimmins fiction of the worst kind! Nothing playful or strange or the ahead of time stuff that’s in there. So I set them on fire pic.twitter.com/w1udGhu52s
— JEANETTE WINTERSON (@Wintersonworld) June 4, 2021
“Absolutely hated the cosy little domestic blurbs on my new covers,” she explained. “Turned me into wimmins fiction of the worst kind! Nothing playful or strange or the ahead of time stuff that’s in there. So I set them on fire.”
The burning spurred a wide range of reactions on Twitter, ranging from horror to admiration.
Literary agent Jonny Geller tweeted, “There’s always the option of objecting to a publisher’s approach BEFORE they print? Burning books is the wrong symbol of protest, however trivial the cause. It has a bad history to it.”
Podcaster Alice Slater weighed in, “I think Jeanette Winterson burned her books as a special treat for me on my birthday cos I love messy book drama.”
Winterson evinced no regret about the incident, tweeting the next day, “Re the Burning of the Books, I would just add that I have never burned anyone else’s books; not even awful ones sent in the post. And to those worried about my contribution to global warming, I have solar panels, air source heating, I live in a wood, and cycle to the Co-op!”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.