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Oxford University Press reportedly barred pigs and anything pork-related from children’s book
Tristin Hopper
Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015
As part of its policy of keeping books amenable to Jewish and Muslim readers—among others—Britain’s Oxford University Press recently asked a children’s author to avoid mentioning anything pig-related.
Specifically, the unnamed U.K. author was asked write out any mention of “pigs plus sausages, or anything else which could be perceived as pork,” according to a Wednesday morning report by BBC Radio host James Naughtie.
Mr. Naughtie’s wife Eleanor Updale is said to be in talks with Oxford University Press to produce an educational book series, although the host did not specifically name her as the author who leaked him the letter.
In a statement to the National Post, Oxford University Press said it did not know which book Mr. Naughtie was referring to, but noted that “we provide this guidance to our UK authors for books that will be used for an international audience.”
An official statement added that “our materials are sold in nearly 200 countries, and as such, and without compromising our commitment in any way, we encourage some authors of educational materials respectfully to consider cultural differences and sensitivities.”
With free speech issues being particularly sensitive in Europe following the Charlie Hebdo shooting, Brits pilloried the venerable publisher on Wednesday, starting with Mr. Naughtie himself, who called the policy “ludicrous.”
Publishing insiders, meanwhile, cautioned that Oxford University Press is merely the product of a global publishing industry tasked with cobbling together a book intended to be read as far afield as Israel and Indonesia.
It is “incorrect to ascribe this to self-censorship — it’s more a case of global market forces at work,” said Lydia Moëd, an agent with the Canadian literary agency The Rights Factory and a veteran of the U.K. children’s publishing industry.
“If there’s a choice between having a pig or, say, a bunny, as a minor character in a particular children’s book, publishers are aware that choosing the pig character will severely limit the book’s potential international market,” she said.
The ultimate result, said Ms. Moëd, is that large publishers end up seeking out books with “as few cultural barriers as possible.”
The phenomenon has raised hackles before.
In 2006, a British academic paper entitled “No Red Buses Please” — a reference to the removal of London’s iconic red omnibuses from children’s books — warned that the U.K. was churning out bland, homogenized children’s literature.
The New York Review of Books similarly noticed the trend in adult fiction, declaring in 2010 that literature was entering the age of the “the Dull New Global Novel.”
“Requests for preferences by publishers is normal … but in my opinion it is a mistake in judgment for any publisher to try to find a common universal standard for all children’s literature,” Bill Swan, president of the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators & Performers.
On Wednesday, Oxford University Press confirmed to the National Post that its “guidelines are intended to ensure that we don’t have to update books for international use.”
While pig imagery is still mostly welcome in Canadian literature, domestic authors do make compromises for foreign readers.
Carolyn Wood, executive director at the Association of Canadian Publishers, noted that Canadian authors will routinely adopt American spelling in order to make their books more acceptable to the lucrative U.S. market.
The process also works in reverse.
One Canadian publisher noted that many European children’s books never make their way onto North American bookshelves because they contain scenes of nudity or sex.
“Month after month, I see absolutely beautiful books and say ‘oh, it’s too bad about that couple copulating up in that cloud’ … that makes it difficult in our market: it’s probably not going to set the world on fire, sales-wise,” said Sheila Barry with Groundwood Books in Toronto.
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Oxford University Press reportedly barred pigs and anything pork-related from children’s book
Tristin Hopper
Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015
As part of its policy of keeping books amenable to Jewish and Muslim readers—among others—Britain’s Oxford University Press recently asked a children’s author to avoid mentioning anything pig-related.
Specifically, the unnamed U.K. author was asked write out any mention of “pigs plus sausages, or anything else which could be perceived as pork,” according to a Wednesday morning report by BBC Radio host James Naughtie.
Mr. Naughtie’s wife Eleanor Updale is said to be in talks with Oxford University Press to produce an educational book series, although the host did not specifically name her as the author who leaked him the letter.
In a statement to the National Post, Oxford University Press said it did not know which book Mr. Naughtie was referring to, but noted that “we provide this guidance to our UK authors for books that will be used for an international audience.”
An official statement added that “our materials are sold in nearly 200 countries, and as such, and without compromising our commitment in any way, we encourage some authors of educational materials respectfully to consider cultural differences and sensitivities.”
With free speech issues being particularly sensitive in Europe following the Charlie Hebdo shooting, Brits pilloried the venerable publisher on Wednesday, starting with Mr. Naughtie himself, who called the policy “ludicrous.”
Publishing insiders, meanwhile, cautioned that Oxford University Press is merely the product of a global publishing industry tasked with cobbling together a book intended to be read as far afield as Israel and Indonesia.
It is “incorrect to ascribe this to self-censorship — it’s more a case of global market forces at work,” said Lydia Moëd, an agent with the Canadian literary agency The Rights Factory and a veteran of the U.K. children’s publishing industry.
“If there’s a choice between having a pig or, say, a bunny, as a minor character in a particular children’s book, publishers are aware that choosing the pig character will severely limit the book’s potential international market,” she said.
The ultimate result, said Ms. Moëd, is that large publishers end up seeking out books with “as few cultural barriers as possible.”
The phenomenon has raised hackles before.
In 2006, a British academic paper entitled “No Red Buses Please” — a reference to the removal of London’s iconic red omnibuses from children’s books — warned that the U.K. was churning out bland, homogenized children’s literature.
The New York Review of Books similarly noticed the trend in adult fiction, declaring in 2010 that literature was entering the age of the “the Dull New Global Novel.”
“Requests for preferences by publishers is normal … but in my opinion it is a mistake in judgment for any publisher to try to find a common universal standard for all children’s literature,” Bill Swan, president of the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators & Performers.
On Wednesday, Oxford University Press confirmed to the National Post that its “guidelines are intended to ensure that we don’t have to update books for international use.”
While pig imagery is still mostly welcome in Canadian literature, domestic authors do make compromises for foreign readers.
Carolyn Wood, executive director at the Association of Canadian Publishers, noted that Canadian authors will routinely adopt American spelling in order to make their books more acceptable to the lucrative U.S. market.
The process also works in reverse.
One Canadian publisher noted that many European children’s books never make their way onto North American bookshelves because they contain scenes of nudity or sex.
“Month after month, I see absolutely beautiful books and say ‘oh, it’s too bad about that couple copulating up in that cloud’ … that makes it difficult in our market: it’s probably not going to set the world on fire, sales-wise,” said Sheila Barry with Groundwood Books in Toronto.
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