This year, Banned Books Week felt like less of a celebration and more of a moral imperative, and our mandate at Penguin Random House to protect writers against censorship is more important than ever. As the book-banning epidemic continues to spread across the country, we remain committed to championing the open exchange of ideas and the power of narrative to broaden perspective and strengthen human empathy.
Robert Jones, Jr., is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel The Prophets, which won the 2022 Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, was a finalist for the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction, and was named one of the best books of 2021 by Time, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post, among others. His writings have been featured in The New York Times, Essence, and The Paris Review, as well as in the critically acclaimed anthologies Four Hundred Souls and The 1619 Project. He has also been a guest panelist for PRH’s online seminar for authors, Author University. This interview was originally conducted in June 2022 for Igloo, Penguin Random House’s internal news hub.
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