A collection of Roald Dahl’s books with unaltered text is to be published after a row over changes made to novels including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Witches.
Dahl’s publisher Puffin, the children’s imprint of Penguin Random House, was criticised this week after the Telegraph reported that it had hired sensitivity readers to go over the beloved author’s books and language deemed to be offensive would be removed from new editions. In response, Puffin has decided to release Dahl’s works in their original versions with its new texts.
The Classic Collection will “sit alongside the newly released Puffin Roald Dahl books for young readers”, the publisher said in a statement, adding that the the latter series of books “are designed for children who may be navigating written content independently for the first time”.
On Thursday, Camilla, the Queen Consort, appeared to weigh in on the debate. At a Clarence House reception for her online book club, she told authors : “Please remain true to your calling, unimpeded by those who may wish to curb the freedom of your expression or impose limits on your imagination.”
Changes to Dahl’s books in the 2022 editions include using “enormous” rather than “fat” to describe the antagonist Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and “beastly” rather than “ugly and beastly” to describe Mrs Twit in The Twits.
In James and the Giant Peach, a rhyme by the Centipede originally read: “Aunt Sponge was terrifically fat / And tremendously flabby at that,” and, “Aunt Spiker was thin as a wire / And dry as a bone, only drier.” Now it has been changed to say: “Aunt Sponge was a nasty old brute / And deserved to be squashed by the fruit,” and, “Aunt Spiker was much of the same / And deserves half of the blame.”
Salman Rushdie, who is published by Penguin Random House, was among those to criticise Puffin, writing on Twitter that “Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship. Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed.”
Philip Pullman – also published by Penguin Random House – said Dahl’s books should be allowed to go out of print, while prime minister Rishi Sunak said the issue was one of free speech.
The singer-songwriter and activist Billy Bragg also weighed in on the discussion on Twitter, expressing his support for the changes made to the 2022 editions. “Suppose your mum wears a hairpiece due to chemotherapy and kids in your class call her a witch because they read in Dahl’s book that witches all wear wigs” he tweeted in response to a comment piece for the Telegraph by Suzanne Moore.
The Roald Dahl Classic Collection will consist of 16 titles. In a letter to staff, Penguin Random House UK CEO Tom Weldon said the publisher acknowledged “the importance of keeping Dahl’s classic texts in print”.
The collection will come out later this year. “Readers will be free to choose which version of Dahl’s stories they prefer,” said Weldon.
He said the publisher was used to “taking part in cultural discourse and debate”. He added: “Sometimes that can be challenging and uncomfortable, and this has certainly been one of those times.”
In a public statement, Francesca Dow, managing director of Penguin Random House Children’s, said the publisher had “listened to the debate over the past week” and it had “reaffirmed the extraordinary power of Roald Dahl’s books and the very real questions around how stories from another era can be kept relevant for each new generation”.
The Telegraph’s associate editor Christopher Hope described the announcement of the new collection as an “extraordinary win” for the reporters who broke the original story, but others were critical of the publisher’s move. Sam Missingham, publishing commentator and founder of The Empowered Author book marketing service, said the decision was “truly pitiful” and that the debate has been a distraction from more important issues.
Others pointed out that, with two sets of editions on sale, Puffin could make even more money from Dahl’s books. Bookseller D Franklin tweeted: “Puffin and the Dahl Estate really have worked out how to cash in here: first a sales spike from the controversy seeing people buying up the previous printing, then a spike in people ‘supporting’ the changes, and now TWO sets of books in print.”
Puffin’s current 16-book Roald Dahl set is now at No 2 in the Amazon children’s books bestsellers chart.
