Banned Books Week is being celebrated across the state, with Newcastle writers embracing the freedom to read.
A number of literary classics were once banned by Australian authorities in the 1930s due to their content, including DH Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.
Newcastle author and communication lecturer, Dr Melanie James, says while there are negatives to book banning, it can raise the profile of a work and its author.
“The censorship of course makes some works more desirable, curiosity is fueled,” she said.
“For other work, censorship laws and subsequent refusal of classification, for example, shows writers where ‘the line’ is currently in terms of social mores in the environments in which they hope to publish.”
But where literature is not banned, social norms and self-censorship are still setting up a number of barriers for writers the world over, even here in the Hunter.
Dr James has experienced this in publishing a novel looking at women’s sexuality from prepubescence through to adulthood.
She says self-publishing via the internet is enabling writers to provide audiences with material that may not be otherwise picked up by publishing houses.
Banned Books Week wraps up on Saturday.
By Sarah Iuliano – NBN News Intern