In a rather suprising move, the classic novel "Zorba the Greek" as well as books by Czech author Milan Kundera were censored at  an upcoming book festival in Egypt.  Egypt's 10-day annual book fair  is the largest in the region.

Censorship in Egypt is carried out by two separate bodies with local publishers subject to the Ministry of Culture and all foreign publications, whether books or media, passing through the Ministry of Information's censorship department.

 

Lebanese publisher Dar al-Adab had planned to bring "Zorba" to the book festival but were met with some surprises.  "They didn't tell us directly about the banning but when we arrived at the fair, certain boxes containing these important titles didn't arrive," said Nabil Nofal, a member of the sales team of Dar al-Adab.

 

DF: According to authorities works are usually censored for issues of sex, religion and politics.  Zorba the Greek contains both sex and religion and was therefore eligible for censorship. Give us a break.