“Censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. Quite the opposite. It leaves kids in the darkness and makes them vulnerable. Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance. Our children cannot afford to have the truth of the world withheld from them”

American writer of children’s and young adult novels

Laurie Halse Anderson is an American writer known for children’s and young adult novels. She is widely read for fiction that speaks directly to younger readers, and she has been recognized for her contribution to young adult literature. In 2010, the American Library Association gave her the Margaret A. Edwards Award, and in 2023 she received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Her work is associated with writing for young people and with the literary recognition that has followed it.