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The
Christchurch Civic Creche Case |
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A war of words has
erupted among New Zealand's literati after an author threatened to sue
Creative New Zealand over a biographical error on a CD-Rom it produced. The government arts agency
is destroying hundreds of CD-Roms about New Zealand writers - and asking
those who have already received them to destroy their copies after Dunedin
author Lynley Hood threatened legal action. She was upset her
profile said her Otago University doctorate was honorary, when in fact it was
an examined degree. Hood has been
criticised by other writers on Creative NZ's "The new word" CD-Rom,
who accuse her of vanity and paranoia. Reissuing the CD will cost up to
$5000. Hood last week demanded
Creative NZ order the destruction of all 2000 copies of the CD, intended to
build an international audience for Kiwi writers, and reissue the directory
with a biographical error corrected. Hood, author of A City
Possessed about the Christchurch civic creche case, told the Sunday
Star-Times she believed the error was deliberate, as she had clearly stated
in her biographical material that her degree had been earned. "It wasn't an
accident." In a letter to Creative
NZ, Hood said the error had "turned legitimate use of (her) hard-earned
doctorate into an object of contempt", because "anyone with an
honorary doctorate who uses the title Dr, and who fails to add (Hon) to the
letters after his or her name, is deservedly regarded as a pretentious
ignoramus". Children's author Kate
de Goldi said the debacle was "crucifyingly embarrassing" for New
Zealand literature. "I can't believe
that someone would threaten legal action or require that the mistake be
amended at considerable cost simply for their own vanity," she said. "The arts are so
stripped of money, and this was such a wonderful initiative. I feel sorry for
Creative NZ - they try their very best, and this is the sort of crappy thing
that happens." Poet Jenny Bornholdt,
who is among the 44 writers on the CD, said other writers she had spoken to
were outraged. "They think it's ridiculous," she said. "It's
overkill." Wellington novelist
Lloyd Jones said Hood's belief the error was deliberate was "probably
paranoia working overtime". "It's a bit
precious," he said. "It's a very slight mistake." Hood said she could
understand fiction writers querying her insistence on the correction, but as
a non-fiction author her academic qualifications mattered. "It's really
important when I work in the field of sex abuse hysteria and false
allegations to have my level of scholarship acknowledged." She believed minimal
cost would be involved in reissuing the CDs, which "only cost a few
cents to run off". A Creative NZ
spokeswoman said about 200 recipients of the CD here and overseas had been
sent letters to destroy their copies, which would be replaced. A further 600 copies
which had not been distributed would be destroyed, and amended copies
produced. At last week's London
Book Fair, where Antipodean writing was the central focus, about 1200 of the
CDs were issued with an "erratum slip" of paper correcting Hood's
profile Hood said she hoped
Creative NZ would reissue the 1200 CDs distributed in London, which included
Spanish and French translations, as erratum slips were "not good enough |
