Joan Rowling was removed from the platinum anniversary reading list after a transgender scandal.
The Big Jubilee Read is designed to celebrate 70 great readings from across the UK, one for each year of the Queen’s reign, and to spark debate.
A long list of 153, backed by the public, including Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was cut short by a group of librarians, academics, booksellers and other literary figures.
However, Rowling, the most successful British writer of her generation, was dismissed amid claims that the committee wanted to give priority to someone whose work is less well known.
BBC Arts, which co-founded the initiative with The Reading Agency, insisted the decision had nothing to do with the transgender dispute.
“A big discussion about J. K. Rowling
Literary classics that made the cut include A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carré and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
Rowling has been denigrated since she faced accusations of transphobia in June 2020, when she mocked an online article that used the words “menstruating people” instead of “women.” She has since defended herself against the allegations.
Susheila Nasta, a competition judge and honorary professor of modern literature at Queen Mary and Westfield Universities, told The Sunday Times: “There was a great discussion about Joan Rowling.
“She was on the long list of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. There was a vacancy for someone just as good, but whose work was not so well known. There were some very difficult decisions. “
Although the anniversary list does not contain a single book published in each year of the Queen’s reign, it is not far off – with each group of elections distributed over a decade.
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