Archive for August 29th, 2008
Random House blacklisted for The Jewel of Medina
The controversy surrounding Sherry Jones’s novel The Jewel of Medina – which Random House U.S. decided to pull earlier this month, citing fears of terroristic violence – continues to grow. Two weeks ago, none other than Salman Rushdie, also published by Random House, weighed in on the matter, condemning his publisher for canceling publication of the book. This week, criticism hails from another, less high-profile source. The Guardian reports:
An American book prize has blacklisted Random House following its “cowardly self-censorship” of Sherry Jones’s novel The Jewel of Medina. The Langum Charitable Trust, which awards two yearly $1,000 (£550) prizes, has said that until the novel is published, it “will not consider submissions of any books, for any of our prizes, from Random House or any of its affiliates.”
Describing Random House’s decision not to print the novel as a “threat to literature” deserving of “serious remonstrance,” the trust’s founder, David Langum, outlined his rationale:
“No one should expect that publishers print every piece of trash that comes into their offices, and The Jewel of Medina may be neither good literature nor good history,” he said. “That is beside the point since Random House had already paid a $100,000 advance, arranged for book club publication, and foreign publication. It changed course and self-censored solely on the political grounds of fear of offending Muslims or fomenting violence.”
“That form of cowardice will only lead to more and more of this form of self-censorship and is an attack on the integrity of literary publication,” Langum continued. “We must stand up to it, in whatever ways are available to us. The form that was available to our small foundation was to put Random House out of the running for our prizes.”
While it’s hard not to admire Langum’s pluck, his indignation at Random House’s “political” manoeuvering does seem a little out of place. Surely, condemning an author because of the actions of his or her publisher is also a threat to “literary integrity.”
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Sask. librarian hits the slammer
Contemplating a life in crime? Well, in terms of graft, the prim world of library management is wide open – or is it?
On Wednesday, a Saskatoon judge sentenced Bruce David Cameron to two years less a day – the maximum sentence for a provincial jail – after he pleaded guilty to defrauding the Wheatland Regional Library.
Cameron’s scheme wasn’t terribly sophisticated, but he was persistent. The Crown alleges he stole $1-million dollars over 14 years, though Cameron has admitted to making off with less than $500,000 – which he has subsequently payed back.
The court heard Cameron set up a fake company called Desert Rose Books in Carson City, Nev.
A few years ago, other library officials got suspicious and brought in a private investigator, who found the book company address was a law office. The company, which took payments for fake book orders, was registered to an alias for Cameron.
There was no evidence any book was ever shipped.
In other outlaw library news, a Lewiston, Maine, woman faces jail time for refusing to return a children’s sex ed manual she believes to be obscene. (Link thanks to boingboing.)
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