Penguin publisher6/21/2023 ![]() ![]() Rushdie, who was attacked and seriously injured last year at an event in New York, tweeted news of Penguin's change of heart on Friday with the words: “Penguin Books back down after Roald Dahl backlash!”īachtyar Ali, his new book and a lifelong quest to put Kurdish literature on the world map ![]() Rushdie, who lived under the threat of death from Iran's Islamic regime for years because of the alleged blasphemy of his novel The Satanic Verses, called the revisions “absurd censorship". While tweaking old books for modern sensibilities is not a new phenomenon in publishing, the scale of the edits drew strong criticism from free-speech groups such as writers’ organisation Pen America, and from authors including Salman Rushdie. The Roald Dahl Story Company, which controls the rights to the books, said it had worked with Puffin to review and revise the texts because it wanted to ensure that “Dahl’s wonderful stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by all children today". In Fantastic Mr Fox, the word “black” was removed from a description of the “murderous, brutal-looking” tractors. In The Witches, an “old hag” became an “old crow”, and a supernatural female posing as an ordinary woman may be a “top scientist or running a business” instead of a “cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman". The move comes after criticism of scores of changes made to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and other much-loved classics for recent editions published under the company’s Puffin children’s label, in which passages relating to weight, mental health, gender and race were altered.Īugustus Gloop, Charlie’s gluttonous antagonist in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - originally published in 1964 - became “enormous” rather than “enormously fat". Publisher Penguin Random House will publish "classic" unexpurgated versions of Roald Dahl's children's novels after it received criticism for cuts and rewrites that were intended to make the books suitable for modern readers.Īlong with the new editions, the company said on Friday 17 of Dahl’s books would be published in their original form later this year as The Roald Dahl Classic Collection so “readers will be free to choose which version of Dahl’s stories they prefer". ![]()
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