The War with Words

Published: May 13, 2022, 8 p.m.

'We must never underestimate the power of words to shape public opinion and politics', writes Bernardine Evaristo.

This comes in the aftermath of a call from a school authority in South Dakota for the banning of her novel, 'Girl, Woman, Other' on the grounds that it - and four other novels - are unsuitable for seventeen and eighteen-year-olds.

Bernardine argues that we should avoid vocabulary that fosters outrage and try instead to find words that convey our exact, and reasoned, argument.

Producer: Adele Armstrong \nSound: Peter Bosher\nProduction coordinator: Gemma Ashman\nEditor: Richard Fenton-Smith