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In this article, the author highlights ways that children's authors may be censored by educational publishers, trade publishers, and even award committees.
The purpose of this article is to highlight some forms of censorship that commonly escape public notice. The discussion of these forms of censorship is supported by experiences of Canadian children's authors and illustrators documented in interviews that took place in Canada in late 2007 as part of a study about pre-censorship. Most interviewees participated on a confidential basis and their names are withheld by mutual agreement. Their experiences provide a glimpse into forms of censorship that have remained largely clandestine.
The term "censorship" is defined in the Online Dictionary of Library and Information Science (2007) as the "prohibition of the production, distribution, circulation, or display of a work by a governing authority on grounds that it contains objectionable or dangerous material." Denise Fourie and David Dowell (2002) provide a broader definition of censorship, explaining that it is "the practice of suppressing or deleting material considered to be objectionable." Censorship "may occur at any stage of publication, distribution, or institutional control" (Foerstel 2002). Censorship that occurs prior to publication, often in an attempt to avoid post-publication censorship, is known as precensorship (Ingram 2000, Khan 1999). These definitions give us a general idea of the meaning of the term "censorship," but do not address the specific motivations for censorship or the means by which it is accomplished.
Motivations
In order to understand the nature of censorship, it is helpful to examine the motivations behind censors' actions. According to the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) of the American Library Association (2002), "in general, there are four basic motivational factors that may lie behind a censor's actions." These are family values, religion, political views, and minority rights. Family values in this context encompass concerns about "changes in the accepted, traditional way of life" and in the desire "to protect children" from exposure to material that deals frankly with sexual themes or topics. Works censored on religious grounds may include "explicitly sexual works," those containing "unorthodox ideas," "antireligious works," or materials considered to be damaging to religious beliefs. Works censored based on political views can include "material that advocates radical change." Censorship based upon minority rights...