Suicide bomber novel 'censored' from Muslim writing competition, claims author Max Malik

An author who won last year's Muslim Writer of the Year Award has claimed his new book was "censored" from this year's competition because it tackled subjects "unpalatable" to Britain's Islamic community like suicide bombings.

By Stephen Adams, Arts Correspondent for the Telegraph, 12 Aug 2008

Novelist Dr Max Malik (pic left) said even though his book was one of just five novels short-listed for this year's award, The Butterfly Hunter was never given to the judges to read.
The Muslim Writers Awards, which aim to unearth undiscovered talent, has received the backing of Gordon Brown.
But Dr Malik said he thought his book had been cast aside to appease parts of the Muslim community.
The organisers of the awards have admitted the judges never got the chance to read the book, even though it was short-listed, but could not explain why.
Read the full Telegraph piece here.
This story is creating headlines with almost all UK newspares carrying it along with many in the US and around the world. Here is the Palestine News Network coverage of the story.

Dr. Malik is a former GP, who hails from Birmingham. He received the (supposedly) prestigious Muslim Writer of the Year Award in 2007. Less than a year later, he completed his debut novel “The Butterfly Hunter”.
He has professional experience of working with serving members of the armed forces, and on the day of September the 11th 2001 he found himself in lockdown at RAF Stafford – where he was assigned as a locum Physician.
Further information about Dr. Max Malik’s debut work is available at www.thebutterflyhunter.net