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More and more famous novels are being edited. Publishers are worried about upsetting words in books. They think language in older books might upset people, especially children. Two authors have had their work edited this week – Roald Dahl and Ian Fleming. Dahl wrote books like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory;" Fleming wrote the James Bond books. Publishers are using "sensitivity readers" to check books for language that might be offensive to minorities. A lot of the language they check was written more than 50 years ago. Back then, the language was thought to be okay.
Edits in the James Bond books are because of language about black characters and women. The sensitivity readers decided the language was racist and sexist. The books will now be published with a warning. This explains that the books were written in the 1950s and 60s, so they used words that might upset today's readers. People are angry that the books were edited. The UK's prime minister and its future queen said it was wrong to edit them. One example edit is the word "fat" being replaced by "enormous". Using the word "fat" for a person is now a negative term.
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