An American mail-order book club offered author Joanne Harris a deal: They’d distribute a special edition of her latest novel, A Narrow Door, if she let them edit out the word fuck, the Guardian reports.
The author’s response: an emphatic no.
Harris, whose novels include Chocolat and Different Class, wrote about the spurned offer on Twitter.
“Today I turned down a book deal in the US because they wanted to edit out my use of ‘the f-bomb,’” she wrote. “I refused for two reasons: one, because I don’t use words accidentally. They matter. And second, because I don’t believe my use of the word ‘fuck’ harms anyone.”
Today I turned down a book deal in the US because they wanted to edit out my use of “the f-bomb.” I refused for two reasons: one, because I don’t use words accidentally. They matter. And second, because I don’t believe my use of the word “fuck” harms anyone.
— Joanne Harris (@Joannechocolat) February 19, 2022
She elaborated that she would have been willing to fix any errors in the book, or change anything that might have been “hurtful.”
“I don’t feel at all offended by this,” she concluded. “I made a choice, and so did they. I don’t remotely feel as if I’ve been ‘cancelled.’”
Harris reassured her readers that they could still buy A Narrow Door in the United States; it was published last month by Pegasus Crime.
“Rumours that my US book has been ‘scuppered’ have somewhat bewilderingly circling,” she tweeted. “Worry not, gentle Twitter. Here it is, safe and sound, with all of its fucks still firmly in place…”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
