We are concerned by recent press reports on the police raid of an educational bookshop in a country which is governed by a parliamentary democracy. It is vital that free thought and free speech is respected and protected and to read about the removal of books from bookshops anywhere in the world is deeply troubling and must be resisted.
We continue to support our colleagues, The Authors Guild, and the publishing industry in the United States who are challenging attempts at censorship through book bans and we have previously spoken out about book bans in libraries and schools in the UK.
Shops and libraries should be allowed to stock a range of books without undue interference, and this right includes the freedom to provide materials in which a range of viewpoints are expressed.
It is imperative that bookshops and libraries remain valued spaces of learning and critical thinking and that they offer safe spaces in which ideas can be freely exchanged. These principles of intellectual freedom underpin any democracy and, as an inclusive society of authors, translators, illustrators and script writers, we stand against the censorship of books or their authors.
