BBC World4/24/2026Politics
Australian Publisher Scraps Children's Book Over Illustrator's Comments on Bondi Shooting
UQP cancels Indigenous book after illustrator Matt Chun's essay criticizing responses to December 2024 attack sparks controversy
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- The University of Queensland Press has cancelled the children's book "Bila, A River Cycle" by poet Jazz Money after illustrator Matt Chun published an essay critiquing responses to the Bondi beach shooting that killed 15 people in December 2024.
- The publisher called Chun's comments "abhorrent and hateful" and said they violated antisemitism policies.
- Several prominent Australian writers have since cut ties with UQP in protest, with poet Evelyn Araluen rescinding all her contracts.
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The University of Queensland Press has cancelled the children's book "Bila, A River Cycle" by poet Jazz Money after illustrator Matt Chun published an essay critiquing responses to the Bondi beach shooting that killed 15 people in December 2024. The publisher called Chun's comments "abhorrent and hateful" and said they violated antisemitism policies. Several prominent Australian writers have since cut ties with UQP in protest, with poet Evelyn Araluen rescinding all her contracts. The book had already been printed with copies now in storage awaiting "recycling options".
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This article was originally published by BBC World.
