Bestselling writer provides set off warnings to her books to make readers ‘really feel extra snug’

One of Britain’s best-selling authors has added trigger warnings to her books to help make readers feel more ‘comfortable.’

Joanne Harris, 60, introduced the new content warnings after previously suggesting they should be added to all books because ‘some people need them.’

They include warnings of ‘mild violence, death of a parent and outdated terms for the travelling community’ for those reading her award-winning novel Chocolat. 

Other potential triggers she has flagged include ‘depictions of eating disorders’ and ‘no consideration for the Marvel canon’ in her ‘Loki’ fantasy series of books; ‘depictions of whale hunting’ in The Blue Salt Road and ‘ableist and transphobic slurs’ in her short story, The Little Mermaid.

The use of trigger warnings has become a divisive issue in recent times in the publishing world.

Other authors such as Virgina Woolf, Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming and PG Wodehouse have all had their classics updated and re-issued to include them.

Universities have also decided to include their own content warnings in copies of books – including Tarzan, Black Beauty and Robinson Crusoe – given out to students, while West End productions of Dickens’ and Shakespeare’s plays have come in for criticism from actors, including Ralph Fiennes and Matt Smith, for warning audiences’ about potentially offensive content.

But in April Ms Harris announced on X, formerly Twitter, that she would be adding trigger warnings to all her work in the future.

She said they have ‘nothing to do with banning books or censorship’ but exist to ‘make reading the book easier and more accessible.’

‘I think it makes a lot of sense,’ she said. ‘I don’t need to know why certain scenes or plotlines might be found triggering, nor is it my place to tell anyone how they should feel or what I think they need from my books. If it makes them more comfortable to know what’s coming, so be it.

‘To me, trigger warnings are like wheelchair ramps. They exist because some people need them.

‘The people who don’t can either use them anyway, or take the stairs. Their choice.

‘The fact that some people don’t take the stairs does not detract in any way from my experience, nor do I hang around the wheelchair ramp mocking those who use it, or tell them how much better it would be for them to be exposed to the climb.’

Ms Harris, whose best-selling novel Chocolat was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film, starring Jonny Depp and Juliette Binoche, also conducted a poll of her followers, which showed people are split on the issue, with 35 per cent in favour, 31 per cent opposed and 34 per cent undecided. 

The prequel to her most successful novel, named after Chocolat’s protagonist Vianne, is due out in May.

In November 2022 Ms Harris saw off an attempt to unseat her from her position as chair of the Society of Authors, the UK’s largest trade union of writers, illustrators and translators, after she was accused of mocking Harry Potter author JK Rowling during a row on Twitter.

Ms Harris was accused of being flippant by setting up a poll asking her followers if they had ever received a death threat when Ms Rowling expressed her support for Sir Salman Rushdie, who had been stabbed at an event in the US.

The response options were ‘Yes’, ‘Hell, yes’, ‘No, never’ and ‘Show me, dammit’, with some interpreting this as suggesting scepticism about how serious the threats were.

Ms Harris subsequently deleted the tweet and revealed she too had received threats online, later suggesting the criticism was more ‘to do with [her] support of the trans community’ than her position at the SOA. Ms Rowling has been accused of being transphobic by trans activists because of her views on gender and sex.

Ms Harris eventually won the attempt to remove her from the helm of after 81 per cent of members backed her.