From an article in the NY Times today;
"At a panel of authors speaking mainly to independent booksellers, Sherman Alexie, the National Book Award-winning author of “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” said he refused to allow his novels to be made available in digital form. He called the expensive reading devices “elitist” and declared that when he saw a woman sitting on the plane with a Kindle on his flight to New York, “I wanted to hit her.”"
I couldn't believe this when I read it. I was offended on several different levels, but most of all I was just really aghast at the level of ignorance and stupidity on the part of this author, especially as an author of young adult fiction. Worse yet, when given a chance to correct himself on
his own blog, the only thing he apologizes for is the idea of hitting a woman;
"I should have edited myself. I should have said, "I saw a man on the airplane reading a Kindle and I wanted to hit him." In this way, my joke becomes about my true object of fear, distrust, and anger---the Kindle---and not about the gender of the person reading the Kindle."
I personally will be dropping a line to his current publisher, and I hope other Kindlers and those who read books on other electronic devices will too;
Hanging Loose Press
231 Wycoff St.
Brooklyn NY 11217
212-206-8465
info@hangingloosepress.com