Here is a talk from Dorothy Allison from the 2012 Santa Barbara Writers Conference. Allison's writing focuses on class struggle, sexual abuse, child abuse, feminism and lesbianism.  She has won a number of awards for her writing, including several Lambda Literary Awards.

Her first novel Bastard Out of Carolina was published in 1992 to great acclaim, becoming a best-seller. It was later adapted as a film of the same name, directed by Anjelica Huston for TNT. The book and film both generated controversy because of the graphic content, and the TV film was aired on Showtime rather than TNT. The Canadian Maritime Film Classification Board initially banned distribution of the film in Canada, but it was reversed on appeal. In November 1997, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a State Board of Education decision to ban the book in public high schools because of its graphic content.