In brief
Miles Franklin winner to tour Queensland and NTAlexis Wright, the winner of this year's Miles Franklin Award for Carpentaria (Giramondo), will tour rural Queensland and the Northern Territory in August....
In brief
Spielberg buys film rights to ‘The Unknown Terrorist'Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks Studio has reportedly paid ‘a massive sum' to secure the film rights to Richard Flanagan's novel The Unknown Terrorist (Picador).The...
ASA rejects A-G’s latest classification guidelines
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has rejected the recent proposal by the Federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, to change classification guidelines to include ‘works that advocate terrorism.'The ASA has expressed...
Hicks won’t profit from book: Attorney-General
Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock (pictured) yesterday flagged that the federal government would introduce retrospective legislation to prevent Australian Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks from profiting from any book deal made...
Ruddock refuses to budge on sedition, but may allow researchers access to banned books
Federal Attorney-general Philip Ruddock has rejected the key recommendation of the Australian Law Reform Commission's report into the Government's 2005 Anti-terrorism Act--that the term ‘sedition' be removed.‘I won't be recommending...
Protest at removal of books from university library
Several organisations representing authors and librarians have issued a joint statement protesting the forced removal of two books from the University of Melbourne's library. Join the Caravan (Azzam Publications) and...
Drop ‘sedition’, says Law Reform Commission
The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) has recommended that the Australian Government drop the term ‘sedition' from its anti-terror laws.Summarising the main outcome of a five-month review, ALRC president David...
‘Business as usual’ for Australian airport booksellers
In the wake of the recently uncovered terrorist plot to detonate explosives on several US-bound flights out of the UK, increased flight security measures have had mixed effects on airport...
Court challenge to banned Islamic books
The NSW Council of Civil Liberties has launched a legal challenge to the recent banning of two books by the Classification Review Board.The Council will shortly begin proceedings in the Federal...
ASA joins ‘book banning’ protests
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has joined the chorus of voices protesting plans by the Attorney-general, Philip Ruddock, to tighten the classification regime for books.In a letter sent to...
APA objects to A-G’s book censorship plans
Australian Publishers Association (APA) CEO Maree McCaskill has written to Attorney-general Philip Ruddock and to all state attorneys-general expressing ‘grave concern' about plans to tighten regulations governing the Classification Review...
Two books banned for ‘inciting terrorism’
Following a review of an earlier decision, the Classification Review Board has banned two books that it considers ‘promote jihad and incite terrorism.'The books, Defence of the Muslim Lands (Maktabah,...