Four decades after her classic Australian children's book Possum Magic first hit bookshelves, Mem Fox would not change a single word — and, as controversy swirls around changes to Roald Dahl's books, she passionately feels that his work should also remain unaltered.
The children's author appeared at Adelaide Writers' Week on Saturday where she spoke to a crowd of young children and their parents to mark the 40th anniversary of her book.
"I think if I were to change anything, I would be an idiot," she said.
"I would not change a thing about it [Possum Magic], not one single thing because obviously what's there has worked."
Possum Magic was first published in 1983 and tells the story of a young possum who becomes invisible.
Its author's appearance on the first day of Writers' Week coincided with arguments across the globe about recent edits to the works of famed British children's author Roald Dahl, who died in 1990.
The rancour has divided authors, audiences, publishers and critics, some of whom have decried the move as "censorship".
But others have defended the text edits, saying they are simply intended to make the books more suitable for modern readers.
When asked by the ABC what she thought about the changes to Dahl's books, she described them as "fatuous", adding that "it's ridiculous, the way we're carrying on".
"How dare they, how dare they change anything that he wrote," she said.
"We'll be changing Shakespeare next.
"We may find them distasteful, we may find them racist, we may find them sexist, we may find them gender-imbalanced … but whatever he did, he did then."
Fox said audiences needed to remember the books were written during a different era.
"He [Dahl] wrote those words and they are historically set at a certain time," she said.
"We wouldn't do it now because we know better.
"But you cannot put an author's name underneath words he or she didn't write."
Fox said she was concerned other books — including her own — could be edited or even rewritten to conform with changing standards.
"It's infuriating. It makes me wild with rage. Don't get me started," she said, laughing.
"I'm very, very worried that I will be dictated to by people who don't know children and don't know how to write. I would be livid — it's happened, and I fought back.
"Somebody even wanted me to change the word 'adored' to 'love', [they] said, 'Adored is an adult word, it's what adults do'. I said, 'For God's sake'."
'We end up being Vladimir Putin'
Adelaide Writers' Week, which runs from March 4 to 9, has faced controversy in recent weeks over its line-up, which includes Palestinian-American author Susan Abulhawa.
On Twitter, she has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of dragging "the whole world into the inferno of WWIII instead of giving up on NATO armament ambitions".
Her upcoming appearance has led to three Ukrainian authors withdrawing, plus major sponsors, including law firm MinterEllison, also withdrawing support because of concerns about potential "racist or anti-Semitic commentary" at the event.
Fox said if people did not want to attend sessions featuring certain speakers, they did not have to.
"Just don't go. Just don't go. Nobody is forcing people to attend any session of Writers' Week," she said.
"The moment we start to close down free speech, we end up being Vladimir Putin, we end up being where we don't want to be."
Given the controversy, Fox anticipated the questions at the end of the sessions would be "very exciting".
"That's what makes life interesting," she said.
"Do we want it to be bland, bland, bland all the time?"
SA Premier Peter Malinauskas earlier this week said he strongly considered pulling public funding from the event, saying that accusing Ukraine of provoking Russia was "patently absurd", but said such a move would have been a step down a "very dangerous path".
