Posted on June 15, 2018 at 2:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
Author Lionel Shriver, who has come under fire for her column criticizing her publisher’s diversity effort, tells The Telegraph that she is not in fact racist.
Shriver, in a lengthy interview with the paper Thursday, stood by her previous words but sought to clarify their intent.
“Diversity is a laudable goal, and I’ve never said anything else, but it shouldn’t be the primary goal if your company is meant to be doing something else,” she told the newspaper.
“What’s being imputed to me is that I believe diversity leads to a lower quality of writing, and you don’t have to take that very far to figure out that’s essentially a white supremacist position. ...
“(But) I did not go on some ugly screed about how rubbish black and Asian and gay writers are.”
Shriver also said her comments should be kept in context of the entire column and called the brouhaha symptomatic of today’s outrage-fueled online environment.
Shriver’s novels include the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin (also a feature film) and the National Book Award finalist So Much for That.
Her journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, among others.
Categories: Today in Books