'Indecent' book now safe reading for all

Late last year a copy of Bloody Mama, banned in 1971 by the now defunct Indecent Publications Tribunal, was seized from Book Haven in Newtown, Wellington by the Internal Affairs Department. This was the result of a complaint by a member of the public.

Read our original coverage.

We can now update you and let you know that the book is once again free to be read.

The Officer of Film and Literature Classification has written to Booksellers NZ (in detail that runs to nine pages) with the conclusion that, "the book explores a range of adult subject matter that, in another medium such as film, would likely require an age restriction. However, the book does not promote or encourage the material described. The characters the story follows are monsters. Their lives are unrealistically sensationalised and salaciously described for entertainment, but this serves to distance the reader from any association with real or normal behaviours.

"In the forty years since this novel was banned in New Zealand, the tolerances of the readership for this type of book have substantially changed."

Bloody Mama has been re-classified as unrestricted.