ANTHONY HOROWITZ, one of the most prolific and successful writers in the UK, is speaking urgently and I passionately. "You can take the 'N' word out of James Bond or the 'fat' word out of Roald Dahl, but that is only the beginning. They will ask for a word, then it will be a paragraph, then it will be a page, then it will be the whole book, then it will be the whole author - and that is already happening" Horowitz has had a 40-year career and is one of Britain's best-selling novelists.
He has written more than 50 books, including the latest James Bond and Sherlock Holmes novels, as well as TV series, films and plays and is the creator of both Foyle's War and Midsomer Murders. But even he fears the chill of cancel culture. "Even speaking to you in this interview," he tells me.
"Every word I am speaking to you now I am thinking about before I utter it. That didn't used to be the case." He has agreed to speak about free speech and attacks on artistic freedom because he feels a sense of duty to highlight the "new atmosphere of relentlessness in seeking punishment, retribution and cancellation" in the literary world.
Critics are like sharks waiting to jump, he says, and offence has no time limit.
"You can offend somebody in the 21st century with something you said in 1970." He is restless and energetic, talking with force on a subject that clearly fires him up. The free speech debate, as highlighted in the Evening Standard's recent inquiry, is an "extremely important subject that writers have a responsibility to contribute to", he says.
He points to what is happening in America, which is "always one step ahead of us", where books including Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust, and Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, have been withdrawn from some libraries.
Bu hikaye Evening Standard dergisinin August 13, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Evening Standard dergisinin August 13, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Kylie Minogue loves the bar at Louie, startling Beefeaters and snooping in The Conran Shop
Currently it’s largely suitcase-based as I’ve been doing so much travel for work, but Melbourne, Australia, is home.
Are Spurs willing to invest what it takes to win trophies?
Criticism of the manager for the club's struggles misses the point-whatever he says, he's not been given a squad ready to push for the biggest honours
Crowning glory awaits Britain's golden girl
Odds-on favourite to win BBC Sports Personality, Keely Hodgkinson never doubted she was ready to conquer the world
Residents at war over £10 billion 'Shanghai-style' Earl's Court plan
Controversial proposals are causing a huge furore in west London
The secrets of selling the capital's £40m homes
Armed security, NDAs, a gold temple...inside the world of ultra high-end property deals
Jenny Packham on Amsterdam why is truly magical at Christmas time
The designer gets lost in the cobbled streets and is entranced by the city’s twinkling lights and unique spirit
Alfies Antique Market
Here is a place to blindly lose oneself in a labyrinth of staircases and thresholds.
Decline and fall: what comes after peak wellness?
The social elite are obsessed with devices that track their health but the backlash is building
The newest AI can arrange your holiday- but will it be a strictly woke one?
A lightning-quick artificial megabrain with an appetite for social justice? WILLIAM HOSIE has a chat with Claude Al
'Fame just isn't healthy
Mercury Prize-winning band English Teacher on the pressure of success, trying not to burn out and the challenges black women face in indie music
