Jack Reacher creator Lee Child brands censorship ‘grotesque’ | Books | Entertainment

Lee Child has branded censorship “grotesque” after reports of schools removing certain books from their shelves and libraries in Essex being told by their local authority not to promote events like Pride and Black History Month. The Jack Reacher creator told an audience at the Royal Society of Arts in London: “One of my greatest fears, and this is observable, is that what happens in America happens here ten years later. We are headed in that direction and it’s got to be resisted.

“It’s a vile, vile thing. It’s an expression, really, of toxicity in our society. Nobody particularly cares what’s in the book, that’s not their issue, they just want to attack somebody. And it’s something we need to resist with every fibre. Censorship is the worst possible thing, and we should do everything in our power to ridicule and denounce and oppose that in every way we can.”

Child, 71, the UK’s first Prison Reading Laureate, is working with charity The Reading Agency to deliver 480,000 of its Quick Reads into prisons across the UK. Asked about creeping censorship at the Royal Society of Arts in London on Monday during an event to promote the power of literature, he told host Dreda Say Mitchell that several of his own books had been banned from libraries in US states, including Florida and Missouri.

Earlier this week Essex County Council instructed library staff to not highlight events unrelated to day-to-day activities. Chris Hossack, Reform’s cabinet member for residents and community services, said he wanted Essex’s 74 libraries to be “neutral spaces”. Librarians were told they should no longer promote events on social media channels or by creating bespoke book displays.

And last year the Lowry Academy in Salford, Greater Manchester, faced criticism after removing books containing “inappropriate content”, including Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and certain LGBT titles, from its library.

“Every idea should be available for examination and consumption,” insisted Child, who has sold nearly 200 million copies of his thrillers since his 1997 debut Killing Floor introduced ex-US Army investigator Jack Reacher. The series was brought to the cinema starring Tom Cruise and, more recently, has been a global hit as an Amazon Prime TV series starring Alan Ritchson in the lead role.

Child also suggested legislation should be brought in to compel British schools to have libraries. Currently prisons must provide libraries but not primary schools. “Nobody thought about making a law about it. It was like saying, we should have a law that the primary school has a roof,” he explained. “Then then finances get squeezed and, if there’s no mandate, it can be disposed of. So I believe there should be legislation so now primary schools have got to have libraries.”

Libraries, in general, were under terrible pressure, he said. His own local library growing up, in Birmingham, was now only open two days a week. “The library I went to as a kid, that was absolutely transformational in my life, was in terrible trouble. They managed to survive just, but it’s only open two days a week.”

Having been appointed the UK’s first Prison Reading Laureate earlier this year, Child hasd been going into prisons to encourage inmates to pick up books and learn to read. Research shows 65% of adult inmates struggle to read unfamiliar texts.

Child, who returned to live in the UK following Donald Trump’s re-election, said he had met women in prison for not paying their TV License because they couldn’t read, which was “ridiculous”. He said if his work could keep even one in ten inmates from going back into prison after their release it could be transformational.

“If you could stop one person, one out of those ten from going back, then that saves a lot of police time money, saves a lot of court time money and above everything else it saves a whole lot of prison time money,” he added.

Launched in 2006, Quick Reads publishes short books by bestselling and emerging authors, specifically designed for adults who find reading challenging or who struggle with concentration. Over the past two decades, the programme has published 147 titles, sold or gifted more than 5.6 million copies, and generated nearly 6.4 million library loans.

Child’s 31st Jack Reacher novel, Chain Reaction, co-written with his brother Andrew, will be published in the autumn.