Margaret Atwood: On Investing with Libraries in A Future for Expressive Freedom
As part of the Edmonton Public Library’s Forward Thinking Speaker Series, I was invited to talk with Margaret Atwood on freedom of expression, her writing, and moderating audience questions. Given the timing, our armchair discussion quickly turned to politics.
Atwood is well known for the perceptive treatment of dystopia, tyranny, and feminism. Books on these subjects, such as The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments, are selling fast following Donald Trump prevailing in the 2024 US presidential election. I asked Atwood what effect his political agenda will have on expressive freedom. She replied it’s a cleft stick, given Trump was backed by Elon Musk, who supports freedom of expression on his platform, X. Atwood anticipates Trump won’t call for banning books; he will appoint judges who support bans. She expects bans will be dealt with differently across the US, like women’s health issues, reflecting twin threats to intellectual and physical freedoms. Given her view that Trump and Musk no longer need one another, Atwood joked she is priming for a power struggle by re-viewing I, Claudius.
Unlike The Guardian, which chose to stop posting its official content on X, Atwood shared she is using the platform less but not disappearing because people feign to be her on fake accounts. It’s a big concern given widespread disinformation, misinformation, and identity theft. In the Canadian media, Atwood has pressed alarms about regulating digital platforms and the federal government’s Online Harms Bill C-63. She has referred to it as Orwellian and flagged the potential it creates for false accusations and thoughtcrime. Notably, the Australian government just withdrew a bill that would have provided a media watchdog the authority to oversee digital platforms and require them to document misinformation and disinformation on their networks. Its critics argued it would legitimize censorship.
I asked Atwood how to approach the friction over contentious ideas and harm. She contended it’s not new or unfamiliar for communication technology to be disruptive and that there have always been controversial ideas given people have different beliefs, attitudes, personalities, cultures and generations. She prefers circulating ideas in the open over suppressing them below ground where they can feed extreme activities (e.g., cults, violence). She declared she’s never been pressured by a publisher (or otherwise) to change a text. Unfortunately, not everyone can say the same.
We spoke about censorship and the intensification of politicized editing of history and curricula, noting some of her books appear on banned and challenged lists in school and public libraries (e.g., Oryx and Crake, The Handmaid’s Tale). The climate is so extreme in the US the children’s work Ban This Book by Alan Gratz, which introduces kids to the concept of book banning, is prohibited in some school districts. I mentioned the efforts of library leader Tracie D. Hall, former Executive Director of the American Library Association, who made Time’s The Most Influential People of 2023 list with her rallying cry “free people read freely” and who cautions censorship is a Trojan horse for removal and endangerment of other rights.
I asked Atwood what rights she was most concerned about. She said it depends on where you live. Across North America, the library community has been facing backlash, harassment, and even accusations of pedaling pornography because of its commitment to intellectual freedom and related human rights, such as the free development of personality. In Alberta, where I live, we should consider Atwood’s certainty that if kids can’t access information through schools and libraries, they’ll get it online, and that can have devastating impacts. She added choosing censorship is a concern for who gets to decide what gets censored. For my part, I don’t want that to be the government.
I appreciate the Library Association of Alberta’s statement in response to Premier Danielle Smith’s February 1, 2024, announcement of her government’s intention to present parental rights legislation. This is designed to constrain gender-affirming healthcare for young people and to assert government authority over all third-party teaching materials on gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexuality in Alberta schools. In addition to rhetoric and advocacy, we require action on the ground. For example, we desperately need to restore a sufficient complement of teacher librarians to the level we had in the 1970s, a peak period. We also need to ensure there are well-stocked multi-lingual, multi-format school library collections. Not only in Alberta but across most of Canada, the erosion of school librarianship is one of the most serious threats to intellectual freedom in this country.
The Canadian Federation of Library Associations / Fédération canadienne des associations de bibliothèques (CFLA-FCAB) Statement on Intellectual Freedom and Libraries transcends sectors (public, school, academic, government) and aligns with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Code of Ethics for Librarians and Other Information Workers. I asked Atwood what guidance she has for our librarians (and co-workers) in realizing their commitments to promote access to information and intellectual freedom while under attack. Without hesitation, she advised if threats are coming from library boards, then we are in trouble. She guided trustees to the Battle of Waterloo, where those who cut and ran first lost. She urged them to stand their ground and back their librarians. She referred the librarians to self-defence classes (Wen-Do in particular).
IFLA acknowledged the precarious roles played by library and information workers in its historic 1983 adoption of the Resolution on Behalf of Librarians Who are Victims of Violation of Human Rights. It’s a key reason why the CFLA-FCAB offers its Intellectual Freedom Award, which recognizes Canadian libraries, individuals and library-related organizations that defend and uphold the principle of intellectual freedom. It is situated alongside sister awards in allied professions, such as the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) International Press Freedom Award. There are not enough such recognitions to acknowledge the number of people and groups who go out on a limb to fight censorship. Nor are there enough defence funds to support them.
Throughout the evening, Atwood demonstrated her famous wit and wisdom. She affirmed she is a hopeful person. She recounted her experience with the Future Library project in Norway. This long-term endeavour involves planting a forest on a scale appropriate to source sufficient paper products to publish an anthology of books in the year 2114. In 2014, Atwood was the first writer invited to contribute a text, which she did in May 2015. Her text is entitled Scribbler Moon. We know nothing else about it. She kidded about travelling to Norway with two lasting print copies of it in a sealed box. She set the scene for us: She was on edge at an airport, worried customs officers might ask her what was in the box and to open it. She was prepared to reply: “I’m not allowed to tell you!”. Thankfully, nothing dramatic happened. Atwood and the container made safe passage to Oslo. Atwood explained the project inspires her belief in a bright future for libraries, texts, readers, and people who know how to read.
Following closing remarks from EPL’s CEO Pilar Martinez, Atwood and I returned to the green rooms in the bowels of the auditorium. There, I probed how useful her originally conceived remote signing device, the LongPen, is for protection purposes today. Atwood made clear it has evolved into a multi-patented product suite in high demand across sectors, including in the car rental business. “Never sign on DocuSign,” she cautioned. It is compelling advice. Privacy and confidentiality matter much to librarianship. Librarians recognize privacy as a necessary safeguard to freedom of expression, affirming everyone has the right to cultivate their ideas and views free of surveillance. The dangers were made clear recently when some of our large urban libraries (Toronto Public Library and Calgary Public Library) experienced significant cyber ransomware attacks and cybersecurity breaches.
A final note: I asked Atwood about her memoir project, wondering who’s in and who’s out. She revealed it includes a librarian. Imagine if every kid in Canada had one to remember!
This blog post is an extended version of my Nov. 28, 2024 post to The Quad at the University of Alberta.
