British author banned from Dubai
February 18th, 2009
A British author has been banned from a literary festival in the United Arab Emirates because her latest novel has a homosexual character.
Geraldine Bedell, a journalist for the Guardian newspaper and the author of several previous novels, said organisers of next week’s International Festival of Literature in Dubai had been discussing launching her book The Gulf Between Us
But festival director Isobel Abulhoul later wrote to Penguin, Bedell’s publishers, complaining that the book was unacceptable because one of the characters is gay and because the book “talks about Islam and queries what is said.”
Abulhoul added “I don’t want our festival remembered for the launch of a controversial book.”
Bedell, who lived in Bahrain for five years, said she was disappointed by the decision. “They (festival organizers) were talking to Penguin about the possibility of launching my book there because my book is set in the Gulf and there are few books in English set in the Gulf,” Bedell told The Associated Press.
“It seemed to be a very good fit and everyone was very enthusiastic about it and it was full steam ahead, and then they had a copy of the book and then they wrote to Penguin and said ‘No, it’s not acceptable’.
“It’s ironic because the book is incredibly sympathetic to the Gulf.”
[...]If they did hype up the idea that Bedell’s book was “banned” Penguin - and Bedell - should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. Self-righteously stirring up Islamophobia to sell books - twenty years after the Satanic Verses affair - is not very smart.[...]Arts & Ecology
William Shaw ∼ February 21st, 2009 3:46 am