What do the dystopian worlds of Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World and 1984 all have in common? Banned books. And with literary censorship on the rise – in 2023 almost 2000 books were targeted for banning in America alone – the distinction between these fictional worlds and our own may not be as stark as we think.

Adam Dudding talks to three major creative figures fighting back against the bans: best-selling author and three-time National Book Award finalist Lauren Groff is opening a new bookshop in her home state of Florida dedicated to selling banned titles and books by marginalised writers; artist and Singapore Literature Prize-winning writer Shubigi Rao has dedicated a decade to documenting the history of censored books from all over the world; and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen, who credits reading so-called “dangerous literature” as what shaped him as a reader and writer, speaks and writes widely on the dangers of censorship.

Shubigi Rao is in Auckland to coincide with Te Tuhi’s presentation of her exhibition, Pulp III: A Short Biography of the Banished Book, at Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery, St Paul Street. The exhibition was originally commissioned for the Singapore Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in 2022.