How Woke Put Paid to Publishing: Until the industry reclaims its allegiance to free speech over ideological orthodoxies, both readers and writers will suffer.

Books are no longer safe from woke censorship even when long in the public domain. In 2020, author and teacher Kate Clanchy won the prestigious Orwell Prize for her memoir Some Kids I Taught And What They Taught Me. Just two years later, following reader reviews accusing Clanchy of employing racial stereotypes, her publisher dropped her, and all distribution of her back catalogue of works ceased. Meanwhile, classic texts out of copyright get slapped with trigger warnings to alert students to hidden dangers contained in their words.

When all these censorious tactics fail, and a “problematic” author slips through the net, campaigners plummet to new depths. Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling has been bombarded with misogynistic abuse and death threats since speaking out in defense of women’s rights. In 2021, Rowling said that she had “received enough death threats to paper my home.” These threats should be taken seriously. Three activists moved from targeting her online to posting a photo of themselves outside her house, in the process revealing to the world the whereabouts of Rowling’s family residence. Most chilling of all was the death threat Rowling received after expressing her sympathy for Salman Rushdie on Twitter. “Don’t worry, you are next,” replied a man who had previously tweeted his support for Hadi Matar, Rushdie’s alleged attacker.

Rather than offering support to Rowling, best-selling novelist Joanne Harris, chair of the U.K.’s Society of Authors, created a Twitter poll. She asked her fellow authors if they had ever received a death threat, with potential answers being: “Yes,” “Hell, yes,” “No, never,” and “Show me, dammit.” The lighthearted nature of the poll seemed to imply that Rowling was making a fuss over nothing. After a backlash, Harris deleted the poll, only to replace it with one asking the same questions but in a slightly less jaunty tone.

Harris has since said that the dispute between her and Rowling is “fabricated,” though the two women are known to disagree on issues surrounding gender self-identification. But whereas Rowling, who believes that sex is immutable, faces social media abuse and her books being pulled from shops, Harris, who believes trans women are actually women, continues to hold one of the most influential positions in British publishing.

What should concern everyone is the message that the publishing industry is sending to young writers: transgress against the current orthodoxies and you are unlikely ever to see your work in print or on bookshop shelves. And if, somehow, you manage that feat, no one will defend you when the inevitable abuse comes your way. A cowardly reluctance to stand up for free speech now pervades publishing, to the detriment of literature, creativity, and reasoned argument.