Author of New Zealand’s First Banned Book in 22 Years Speaks Out

By Ryan Holiday | 09/21/15 Observer - US

(Photo: Ted Dawe.com)

In case one thinks that the banning of ‘offensive’ books is uniquely a product of American conservatism or social justice warriors, one needs to look no further than the front page of reddit.com. Last week’s featured AMA was with a New Zealand author named Ted Dawe who had found his book Into The River banned by New Zealand’s Film and Literature Board of Review.

It’s the first book banned in New Zealand in over 22 years. Its offense? Well, the book features ‘strong offensive language, strong sexual descriptions (and) covers serious things like pedophilia and sexual abuse’ or at least it does according to to the the national director of Family First, the conservative lobbying group behind the campaign against the book. Originally the group sought an age restriction but as is often the case with calls to censor, we all got more than was bargained for.

But with the help of his son, Dawe is fighting back—using new media tools he told me that he’d never even heard of a month ago to effectively fight to get his message out. It remains to be seen—will the ban prevent the book from getting into the hands of young people? Or will the attempts to block them follow what’s known as the Streisand Effect, ensuring an even larger audience

We set out to interview the author to find out his thoughts and his plans.