An antisemitism charity has revealed it has been working with Roald Dahl organisations to help them to confront the writer’s controversial past.
The Antisemitism Policy Trust has been working with the Roald Dahl Museum and the Roald Dahl Story Company for several months, according to the charity’s chief executive, Danny Stone.
In a letter to the Jewish Chronicle, Stone said the charity has been engaging with the RDSC and the Roald Dahl museum “over many months”, providing training and advice to the organisations’ staff.
This follows an announcement from Puffin Books, the children’s imprint of Penguin Random House, that it had hired sensitivity readers to help remove language deemed offensive from new editions of the author’s books.
In his letter, Stone said the engagement between the charity and the organisations had been in “good faith” and that the charity was impressed by their sincerity and desire to recognise the impact of Dahl’s derogatory comments about Jewish people.
Stone added that the organisations had deliberately kept their partnership out of the public domain because neither party “wanted the efforts to be seen as opportunistic, but as the genuine effort and engagement they represent”.
He added: “I have found the company, the museum and their staff to be willing partners and look forward to being able to talk publicly about the good work that has taken place in due course.”
The RDSC said it was unable to add to the information already in the public domain at this stage.