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Hatchette’s staff involved in JK Rowling’s latest book threatened to stop working on it in protest of her views on gender.
Rowling endured a storm of protest since expressing ‘deep concerns’ about transgender activism in an essay last week in which she announced being a victim of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Yesterday morning at publishing house Hachette, several of those involved in Miss Rowling’s new children’s book, The Ickabog, are said to have staged their own rebellion during a heated meeting.
“Staff in the children’s department at Hachette announced they were no longer prepared to work on the book, showing support for the trans lobby. They are in their twenties and early thirties, and apparently it is an issue they feel very strongly about,” said a source at Hatchette.
“It was a handful of staff, and they are entitled to their views. If they were being asked to edit a book on domestic abuse, and they were a survivor of domestic abuse, of course they would never be forced to work on it. But this is a children’s fairy tale. It is not the end of the world,” said another source.
Hachette, however, issued a statement backing Miss Rowling’s right to express herself, saying “We are proud to publish JK Rowling’s children’s fairy tale The Ickabog. Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of publishing. We believe everyone has the right to express their own thoughts and beliefs.That’s why we never comment on our authors’ personal views and we respect our employees’ right to hold a different view.”
‘We will never make our employees work on a book whose content they find upsetting for personal reasons, but we draw a distinction between that and refusing to work on a book because they disagree with an author’s views outside their writing,” added the statement.
Source: Daily Mail
