"Silent readings of Ted Dawe’s Into the River are being planned across New Zealand tomorrow in protest at the much-praised young adult novel’s nationwide ban. Following a complaint from Christian group Family First about the award-winning title’s “detailed descriptions of sex acts, coarse language and scenes of drug-taking”, New Zealand’s Board of Film and Literature Review has placed an interim restriction order on Into the River, meaning that “no one in New Zealand can distribute, or exhibit, the book”. Individuals who breach the order face a fine of $3,000 and companies who breach it will be fined $10,000. The board will revise the order and consider a permanent age restriction for the novel in October. Into the River, the coming-of-age story of a Maori boy whose intelligence wins him a place at a prestigious boarding school, where he faces racism and bullying, won Dawe the 2013 New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award. Its ban has prompted a wave of outrage from New Zealanders, authors and the international book community, with silent readings planned tomorrow in Auckland, Dunedin and Wellington as the literary world throws its weight behind Dawe. Auckland’s Time Out bookstore, meanwhile, has pulled together a window display of previously banned books from Animal Farm to The Catcher in the Rye, including Into the River inside a paper bag, in protest at the ban."
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
New Zealand protests planned in solidarity with banned book; Guardian, 9/9/15
Alison Flood, Guardian; New Zealand protests planned in solidarity with banned book:
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I recently participated in a protest against this banning. On the streets of Wellington we had a silent reading of 'Into the River'. It was a silent reading because it would have been illegal to read ‘Into the River’ out loud. Can you imagine? It's illegal to READ THE BOOK OUT LOUD! It makes no sense. It’s like being told, “Don’t you dare sing that song. It will turn people into heffalumps.” I wrote about the protest here: http://jaredgulian.com/2015/09/12/reading-as-an-act-of-civil-disobedience/
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