Rebel Girls criticised for featuring Aung San Suu Kyi

The authors of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls (Particular Books) have said they are considering removing Aung San Suu Kyi from future editions of the book following criticism of her inclusion from parents.

One of the smash hits of 2017, the compilation of mini biographies of “great women” by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo recently won Blackwell’s Book of the Year. However now the book has been slammed by parents, according to the Guardian, for featuring Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi following her response to violence against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims. Favilli and Cavallo have said they are considering removing her from reprints of the book, which was originally published in the US and was described as “most-funded original book in the history of crowdfunding”.

On the book’s Facebook page, reader Matty Sarro said: “Overall the book is excellent…My only gripe is that, while I love the idea, some of the choices are a bit uncomfortable and really need to be altered for future versions. For instance - Aung San Suu Kyi. It is really awkward praising a woman responsible for a campaign of ethnic cleansing, systematic rape, infanticide, etc.”

In a statement the authors told the Guardian: “We’re monitoring the situation closely and we don’t exclude the idea of removing her from future reprints.”

Formerly revered, and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Aung San Suu Kyi has more recently been widely criticised as 650,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to neighbouring Bangladesh following a crackdown by Myanmar’s security forces. Earlier this month her Freedom of the City of Dublin award was revoked.

Good Night Stories was one of the only two children's titles to make Amazon UK’s print bestseller list for 2017, it was revealed earlier this month.

Penguin Random House, of which Particular Books is an imprint, was unavailable for comment over the Christmas and New Year period.