Oliver and his publisher, Penguin Random House UK (PRH UK), have conceded to Guardian Australia that no consultation with any Indigenous organisation, community or individual took place before the book was published.It's a children's fantasy novel. Why on earth should anyone have to consult anyone before publication? Except maybe a test audience of children, to see if they like it?
But let the reflexing cringing begin!
“I am devastated to hear I have caused offence and wholly apologise for doing so,” Oliver said in a statement to the Guardian. “I am listening and reflecting and working closely with my publisher on next steps.”
Oh, good grief, man, show some balls and tell the race grifters to fuck off!
PRH UK also issued a statement saying it apologised unreservedly.
“Penguin Random House UK publishes this work and takes responsibility for the consultation, or what we would call an authenticity read of the work,” the statement said. “It was our editorial oversight that this did not happen. It should have and the author asked for one and we apologise unreservedly.”
And that's why you will be forever beholden to these charlatan activists!
Neither author nor publisher has committed to withdrawing the book from sale, however, a move Natsiec said must happen immediately to rectify the harm caused. The body’s chief executive, Sharon Davis, said the book perpetuated harmful stereotypes, trivialised complex and painful histories and “ignores the violent oppression of First Nations people, raising serious concerns about the cultural safety of First Nations readers – especially young people”.
If your 'young people's' safety is compromised by reading a book, then their parents have failed them.
Davis said such errors exposed the author’s “complete disregard for the vast differences among First Nations languages, cultures, and practices”, while the book’s reduction of First Nations beliefs and spirituality to “magic” was “a longstanding stereotype that diminishes our complex and diverse belief systems”.
Readers are invited to ponder the chutzpah here, give the furore over the Aboriginal Telescope that David Thompson highlighted.
Dr Anita Heiss, a Wiradyuri author and publisher-at-large at Simon & Schuster’s First Nations imprint, Bundyi Publishing, said Oliver’s book confirmed what she had been advocating for over many years. “First Nations peoples need to be involved at every stage of the process from acquisitions to editorial, to sales and marketing. Only then will our stories be told with the complete respect they deserve,” she said in a statement. “There is no space in Australian publishing (or elsewhere) for our stories to be told through a colonial lens, by authors who have little if any connection to the people and place they are writing about.”
It's called 'fantasy' for a reason! Do we have to strap Neal Asher to the next one of Musk's rockets so he can write about sci fi? Lock Stephen King in a haunted house in Maine so he can write more horror?
No, of course not.
Of course the other way to deal with the forever moaners is to just not write about them. At all. Let them fade into obscurity. In the real world, they should be thanking the author for writing stories about them, because they don't seem to be writing them - or at least none that a wide audience wants to buy and read.
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