A Round-Up of Last Week's Book & Author News!

'SNOW WHITE' REMOVED FROM INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL IN QATAR

On Thursday, it was reported in 'The Guardian' that children's book 'Snow White' was removed from an International school in Qatar when a father complained that it contained 'indecent sexual innuendo' as well as indecent illustrations.

​'The book cover in question shows a smiling Snow White being held by the prince, who in the story revives her with a kiss after she eats a poisoned apple', English-language website Doha News reported.

The school took the complaint very seriously, promptly banned the book and apologised to the grieved father 'for any offence that this unintended situation may have caused'.

"Snow White" is a German fairy tale known across much of Europe and is today one of the most famous fairy tales worldwide. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimms' Fairy Tales.

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FIVE YEARS ON: WRITERS ADMIT THEY WERE WRONG ABOUT ARAB SPRING

In a brilliant, must-read article by leading writers in the Arab world in 'The Guardian' yesterday, many have expressed how naive and misguided they were to believe that change had been just around the corner when five years ago the Arab Spring was breaking out across the Middle East.

Robin Yassin-Kassab, Alaa Abd El Fattah, Ahdaf Soueif, Mourid Barghouti, Laila Lalami, Raja Shehadeh, Khaled Mattawa, Tamim al-Barghouti, Nouri Gana and Joumana Haddad offer insight how they view the situation as it stands today in Syria, Egypt and Iraq as well as other parts of the Middle East in general including Tunisia.

​Read full article HERE.

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BOOK RELEASE TO WATCH OUT FOR NEXT WEEK!

'Solomon Northup's Kindred: The Kidnapping of Free Citizens Before The Civil War' by David Fiske

Kidnapping was a lucrative crime in antebellum America, and many American citizens-especially free blacks-were abducted for profit. This book reveals the untold stories of the captured. Features portraits, sketches, and images of documents and newspaper articles related to kidnapping. Identifies the numerous factors that led to the lucrative business of kidnapping. Describes the physical and psychological subduing of victims. Includes the perspectives of those who tried to help: educators, crusaders, rescuers, and cooperative slave owners.

David Fiske, MLS, is a librarian and researcher with extensive experience in African American history. He is the author of 'Twelve Years a Slave'.

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