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Author Anthony Horowitz says he was "warned off" including a black character in his new book because it was "inappropriate" for a white writer.The creator of the Alex Rider teenage spy novels says an editor told him it could be considered "patronising".
Horowitz wanted a white and black protagonist in his new children's books but says he is now reconsidering.
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Horowitz ~ said there was a "chain of thought" in America that it was "inappropriate" for white writers to try to create black characters, something which he described as "dangerous territory". Link.
Haven't read any of the Alex Rider novels and never will but thankfully Horowitz is based in London and will be free to create black villains / heroes for his novels. Can't believe anyone thought a white writer shouldn't create black protagonists in literature.
For the criticism to come from the US is surprising, Denzil Washington for example played the villain brilliantly in "Training Day."