Rushdie warns of danger to freedom of expression

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So said the Indian-born author in a pre-recorded acceptance speech at the British Book Awards (Nibbies) ceremony on Monday night. The 75-year-old, who lives in the US, received a special award at the event.

As an example, Rushdie mentioned the pressure on libraries and schools in the United States, where ideological groups wanted to ban books with a certain content. “It’s remarkably alarming and we need to be very aware of it and fight it very vigorously,” said Rushdie, who narrowly escaped a murder last year and has been blind in one eye ever since.

He also opposed efforts to purge historical books of terms perceived as offensive, as happened with the works of children’s author Roald Dahl and James Bond author Ian Fleming. “The idea of ​​trying to make James Bond politically correct is almost bizarre,” he said. Instead, he advocated “letting books of their time come to us and be of their time.”

The British Book Award, which has existed since 1990, has been awarded by the trade magazine The Bookseller since 2017. Rushdie was awarded the “Freedom to Publish” special award, which was presented for only the second time.

(SDA)

Source: Blick