Salman Rushdie calls revisions to Roald Dahl books ‘absurd censorship’

A decision to change hundreds of words in Roald Dahl’s children’s books has drawn condemnation from author Salman Rushdie, who called it “absurd censorship.”

His is the latest prominent voice in the heated debate sparked after a report Friday in Britain’s Telegraph detailed a litany of changes by Dahl’s publisher and the Roald Dahl Story Co., which manages the works’ copyright and trademarks, that were designed to make the famous books more inclusive and accessible for today’s readers.

“Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship,” Rushdie, a Booker Prize-winning author, wrote on Twitter, calling out the children’s imprint of the British publisher Penguin Books. “Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed.”

Rushdie is one of the most famous authors in the world. His novel “The Satanic Verses” prompted Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 to issue a religious decree calling for Muslims anywhere in the world to assassinate Rushdie and anyone else involved in the publication of the book.