Philip Pullman: 'Why we must stand up to the book barbarians'

The award-winning author has joined the fight to prevent library closures.

Pullman: the internet is not a substitute for libraries Photo: ANDREW CROWLEY

By Peter Stanford in The Telegraph

To casual passers-by, Kensal Rise Library in north-west London is just another red-brick, late-Victorian municipal building, noticeable only because it is slightly bigger and taller than the terraced houses of similar vintage surrounding it. If they paused to go inside, the brass plaque in the busy entrance hall announcing that it was opened in 1900 by the American author Mark Twain might just give this branch library a certain curiosity value.

But there is, on this dull morning, as readers young and old browse the shelves, little to hint at its emerging status as the cause célèbre of a national campaign to force the Government into yet another U-turn, this time over library closures.

Yet today will see the fate of Kensal Rise Library (and that of five others run by Brent Council) being considered by the High Court. Those fighting to save it – and they include local literary luminaries Maggie Gee, Zadie Smith and Tim Lott, as well as Nick Cave, Michael Rosen and Alan Bennett – are seeking a full judicial review of the closure decision, which they say has been made without proper consultation or consideration of alternative plans.

To cap what would be a momentous day, if the High Court backs them, the award-winning author Philip Pullman is coming to Kensal Rise tonight for a fund-raiser to help pay the legal bills. He will read from his controversial bestseller, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, and then take questions on the importance of libraries in shaping young minds. “I spent much of my childhood,” he says, “immersed in libraries on board ships on my way to far-flung corners of the Empire [his father was an RAF pilot].

“Closing libraries is the behaviour of a debased culture,” he adds. “Libraries are not just a source of books. Many of us feel that they symbolise something more, that Britain is a civilised place. And when part of our civilisation is being destroyed, we have to stand up against the barbarians.”
Full piece at The Telegraph.