(Note: This show first aired earlier this year.) Our guest is the bestselling young-adult writer Laurie Halse Anderson, who's widely known and appreciated for the brave manner in which she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Her novel "Speak," which first appeared two decades ago, was groundbreaking in this regard. Anderson's new book, which she tells us about, is a memoir in poetry called "Shout." As was noted of this moving book in a starred review in Publishers Weekly: "In this powerful memoir told in free verse, Anderson delves into her past and that of her parents, sharing experiences at the root of novels such as 'Speak' (her rape at the age of 13) and 'The Impossible Knife of Memory' (her father's PTSD after World War II)...."
"Shout" -- A Memoir in Poetry by Laurie Halse Anderson (Encore Presentation)
