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United States: Book by Irina Ionesco Withheld by US Distributor
November 30, 2004
PEN USA is alarmed that a book scheduled for release in October was withheld by its United States distributor Stackpole Distribution.
Story Continued...
PEN USA is alarmed that a book scheduled for release in October was withheld by its United States distributor Stackpole Distribution.
Artist Irina Ionesco released Eva: Eloge da me Fille, a photographic “eulogy” of her daughter Eva. The photographs celebrate Eva’s physical and psychological ripening into the early stages of sexual self-consciousness and womanhood. Because the book contains nude and partially nude photographs of young Eva, Stackpole has censored it completely.
The book beings with introductory essays by critics and the photographer herself that place the photos in a context of innocence and art. “The liberty I took in baring her is innocent… in my gaze the greatest love of all took place,” says the author in her beginning essay.
Stackpole is refusing to fill orders secured by the book’s publisher, Alice Press Publishing. The book’s primary distributor, Hushion House in Toronto, and Alice Books secured many preorders from book selling website Amazon.com. However, without a United States Distributor, Amazon cannot sell the book. Stackpole has refused to send even one copy of Ionesco’s book out from its stockroom. Hushion House stated in an Alice Press press release that in years of publishing and distribution they have never had a book held and censored by a US Distribution service.
While Hushion and Alice Press acknowledge the book is controversial, to have a book distribution service actually withhold a book from the marketplace is, as Alice Press stated in a press release, “a dramatic and unconscionable act of censorship that will not go unchallenged.”
The Chair of the Board of Directors of the Free Speech Coalition and the Chairman Emeritus and Past President of the First Amendment Lawyer’s Association support the distribution of Eva, yet Stackpole still refuses to fulfill orders for the book.
Nina Elizabeth Gates of Alice Press was quoted saying, “this… sends a message to young girls that their bodies, nude or otherwise, are pornographic and shameful. Stackpole are the ones who should feel ashamed.”
Brian Dyer of Inquisition21 notes the actions of Stackpole books “poses a threat to all publishers of books that may offend Puritans.”
PEN USA agrees. Just because a book might offend some, its general distribution should not be halted. By outright denying distribution of the book, Stackpole Distributors are essentially banning this book from the broader market. Although Alice Press is selling the book online at Alicepress.com, the market has been greatly reduced through Stackpole’s actions. PEN USA condemns restrictions on the marketplace of ideas based on perceived “offensiveness.”
Stephen Rohde, Vice President of PEN USA’s Freedom to Write program and First Amendment lawyer, said, “While the First Amendment prohibits governmental censorship, the spirit of free expression and open debate is tarnished when distributors elect to prevent access to books because of their own moral standards or what they think others might find offensive. What if distributors decided what book to distribute or not to distribute based on political, social, religious, or other subjective standards. Nothing controversial would make it to the shelves. And the American public would be the loser.”
Recommended Action:
Write Stackpole Distribution condemning their actions.
Stackpole Distribution
7253 Grayson Road
Harrisburg, PA
17111
(717) 564-2111