"The publishing purges
Kate Clanchy has been forced to rewrite her Orwell Prize-winning book, Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me, on the grounds that it features 'racial tropes', e.g. describing a child of colour as having 'almond eyes'. After a social media storm, she apologised and said she was 'grateful' to those who'd attacked her for showing her the error of her ways. The publisher has also apologised for 'the hurt we have caused' and thanked the book's critics. The Orwell Foundation has said it acknowledges the 'concerns and hurt expressed' about the book, which it lauded just a year ago. Anthony Brett tells the full story of the 'ugliest cancellation in recent history' in the Telegraph - and it seems to be metastasizing. Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials, has been condemned by the Society of Authors, of which he is President, after he came to Clanchy's defence and compared her critics to members of the Taliban. The Society has issued a statement telling its members 'to be mindful of their privilege'. Our General Secretary, Toby Young, was interviewed about the controversy for talkRADIO.
Sarah Ditum has written an article for the Times about the battle between ideological purity and literature and concluded that purity is winning. Tom Slater says in the Spectator that what has happened to Clanchy is 'faintly Stalinist, with a grovelling apology following the howling denunciation'.
Meanwhile, Mills & Boon has asked its authors to write novels with more socially progressive heroes, says FSU Advisory Council member Allison Pearson in the Telegraph, while Ben Lawrence makes a plea in the Telegraph to keep the cancel culture mob away from musicals."
#AdvocacyUKFreeSpeechUnionFSUBenjaminJones
https://freespeechunion.org/weekly-news-round-up-25/
#IRLAuthorKateClanchy
#2019_SomeKidsITaughtAndWhatTheyTaughtMe
#OtheringStereotypeCulturalEthnic
#OrgUKTheOrwellFoundation [Wikipedia]
#NewspaperUKBrdshtTheTelegraphAnthonyBrett
#IRLAuthorPhilipPullman
#ConditionCancerMetastatic [Wikipedia]
#OrgUKSocietyOfAuthorsSoA https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/aug/11/society-of-authors-philip-pullman-tweets-kate-clanchy
#MagazineUKTheSpectatorDouglasMurray
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#MagazineAUTheSpectatorTomSlater
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#BrandMillsAndBoon
#NewspaperUKBrdshtTheTelegraphBenLawrence