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JK Rowling denied the Presidential medal of Freedom, Pullman ranked second on US banned books list
JK Rowling was, according to a new book by Matt Latimer (former speech writer for President George W Bush), denied the Presidential medal of Freedom due the Bush administration believing that her work promoted witchcraft.
"People in the White House actually objected to giving the author JK Rowling a presidential medal because the Harry Potter books encouraged witchcraft,"
The claims appear in Latimer’s new book called Speechless: Tales of a White House Survivor. He wrote that "narrow thinking" led White House officials to object to giving Rowling the civilian honour. The award acknowledges contributions to US national interest, world peace or cultural endeavours. Past literary recipients of the award include John Steinbeck and Harper Lee.
This week, novelist and children’s writer Philip Pullman notched up a new distinction: he is ranked second in the top 10 books that people have tried to ban across America.
Pullman’s fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials, has leapt to the top of the target list of would-be censors in the new rankings issued this week by the American Library Association. It tracks cases where individuals or groups have attempted to have books stripped from bookshelves in schools and libraries across the US.
Its newly released rankings for 2008 recorded 513 cases where books were targeted for censorship, of which 74 were successfully banned or restricted. Pullman’s trilogy was the second most commonly attacked, a result, the ALA believes, of an organised campaign that the anti-defamation group the Catholic League launched against the film version of The Golden Compass.
Posted: October 1st, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: JK Rowling, Philip Pullman
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