Hilary Mantel has revealed how her childhood was marked by a reluctance to speak, in a provocative essay in which she urges writers that “if you don’t mean your words to breed consequences, don’t write at all”. “I could flatter myself by claiming I waited to speak till I had something to say,” she continues. The bienpensant suggested the result was not binding, but advisory – an opinion they would hardly have offered had the vote gone the other way,” writes Mantel. If a poet died, would you say, ‘Out of respect, ease off the verse?’ If a historian died, would you try to stop events?” writes Mantel in the autumn issue of Index on Censorship magazine. And she also states that words don’t go away, that the internet keeps regurgitating you.

Source: The Guardian September 15, 2016 13:30 UTC