January 2 –Golliwogs inEnid Blyton children's books are replaced by the British publisher withgnomes after complaints of a racial offence implication.[1]
June –Virago Press of London publishesDown the Road, Worlds Away, a collection of short stories ostensibly by Rahila Khan, a young Muslim woman living in England. Three weeks later, Toby Forward, an Anglican clergyman, admits to writing them and the publisher withdraws the book. "He, unlike the editors at Virago, had grown up in precisely the kind of area and social conditions that the book described.... Although the book never claimed to be other than a work of fiction, the publishers destroyed the stock still in the warehouse and recalled all unsold copies from the bookshops, thus turning it into an expensive bibliographical rarity."[2]
July 31 – The United KingdomAttorney General takes legal proceedings on security grounds against the London paperThe Daily Telegraph to prevent it publishing details of the bookSpycatcher.[3] On September 23, an Australian court lifts its ban on the book's publication.[4]
Tom Wolfe is paid US$5 million for the film rights to his novelThe Bonfire of the Vanities (published in book format in October), a record fee to an author at this time.[5]
