Banning of book seen as ‘exceedingly troubling’

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-1771" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;09&sol;NZSA&lowbar;logo&period;png" alt&equals;"NZSA logo" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"233" &sol;>The decision by the president of the Film and Literature Board of Review&comma; Dr Don Mathieson&comma; QC&comma; to issue an Interim Restriction Order banning the sale or distribution of Auckland author Ted Dawe&&num;8217&semi;s award-winning novel for teenagers&comma; Into the River&comma; is exceedingly troubling&comma; says New Zealand Society of Authors president&comma; Kyle Mewburn&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;After arguing a minority&comma; losing case&comma; the Review Board president appears to have made a unilateral decision to slap a total ban on the book&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Mr Mewburn said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The decision seems to be entirely based on personal morals rather than any professional advice or objective judgment&period; If so&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s a seriously troubling development&comma; which has less to do with &&num;8216&semi;protecting young people&&num;8217&semi;&comma; and more to do with pushing a particular worldview&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The book has been comprehensively considered and discussed by professionals including librarians and teachers&semi; people in daily contact with the book&&num;8217&semi;s target readership&period; The overwhelming majority view of these professionals was that Into the River presents a brutal and challenging reality which is&comma; sadly&comma; faced by many teenagers&comma; making it an important and timely book&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Dr Mathieson&&num;8217&semi;s decision is also at odds with our National Annual Awards for outstanding Children&&num;8217&semi;s and Young Adult Literature&comma; the 2013 judges having unanimously identified Dawe&&num;8217&semi;s book as the year&&num;8217&semi;s overall winner&period; The furore at the time appeared to be largely generated by people who objected to the book&&num;8217&semi;s content on moral or religious grounds &&num;8211&semi; often without reading it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Initial attempts to censor this book were defeated&comma; in large part by the unwavering support and efforts of librarians and other professionals in the field&period; It is a concern to see the saga continue against their considered advice&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;One of NZSA&&num;8217&semi;s functions is to guard against any erosion of our right to freedom of opinion and freedom of expression&comma; which this decision comes perilously close to doing&period; As writers we strongly object to the curtailing of readers&&num;8217&semi; rights to access literature on the basis that it is deemed to offend a specific moral viewpoint&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Not since 1961 when James Courage&&num;8217&semi;s novel A Way of Love was banned have we seen this scale of assault on New Zealand literature&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;