“The retelling of Singapore’s history in the work potentially undermines the authority or legitimacy of the government and its public institutions, and thus breaches our funding guidelines.” This guideline was what led the National Arts Council (NAC) of Singapore to…
Author: Caitlin McCabe
Statewide Reading Program Prompts Discussion of LGBTQ Censorship
Schools around the state of Vermont are celebrating the freedom to read by participating in a statewide reading program that this year picked Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, a book that serves as an allegory for censorship.…
VICTORY: Censors Fail in Of Mice and Men Challenge
In a 4-1 vote, the Coeur d’Alene School Board rejected a review committee’s recommendation to restrict John Steinbeck’s classic novel Of Mice and Men. Early last week, an ad hoc review committee comprised of both parents and community members came…
Neil Gaiman Responds to One Million Moms’ Lucifer Shenanigans
The American Family Association’s One Million Moms is raising hoopla yet again, this time protesting the release of Fox’s upcoming series Lucifer. The show, which is based on the character Neil Gaiman introduced in his critically acclaimed comic Sandman, follows…
Censorship by Financial Sabotage: Cartoonist Sonny Liew Loses Singapore Arts Grant
Due to unease over the book’s controversial content, the National Arts Council in Singapore has withdrawn its grant to aid in the publication on Sonny Liew’s The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye. The book, which was released in Malaysia…
Iran Combats ISIS With Cartoon Contest
“Taking the war to the next level.” This is what Negar Mortazavi, an Iranian-America Journalist, posted on her twitter with regard to the anti-ISIS cartoon contest that Iran has launched. Organized by Iran’s House of Cartoon, the Daesh Cartoon &…
New Law Would Censor the Internet in South Africa
Right now, South Africa’s government is considering a new and highly controversial digital content law that, if passed unaltered, would essentially authorize widespread censorship of the internet. The Online Regulation Policy drafted by the Film and Publication Board of South…
Iranians Embrace Ebooks to Combat Censorship
In Iran, ordinary words like “kiss,” “dance,” and “wine” can be cause for a printed book to be vetted and censored. Laws that would prohibit the publication of words such as these as well as legally empower the ministry of…
Comic Artist Tackles Censorship in Singapore
Comic artist Sonny Liew has done work for the biggest publishers in the industry, but now he is tackling a very important, highly personal, and potentially controversial project — a graphic novel depicting some of Singapore’s most controversial events. From…
New York Venue Censors Neil LaBute’s Anti-Censorship Monologue
The New York theater scene is known for putting on some of the most controversial plays, but not when it comes to the monologue Mohammed Gets a Boner. The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in Greenwich Village made a…