Letter: 'Lace 2': Penguin apologises
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.ON 7 August you published an article under the heading 'Sex- and-shopping row: sequel looms' which contained a number of inaccuracies. The CV prepared by Celia Brayfield for Penguin did not claim authorship of Lace 2: this was a misunderstanding by the organisers of the Birmingham Festival, who wrongly attributed authorship to Celia Brayfield. In fact, as Shirley Conran and Celia Brayfield have agreed in their recent settlement, Celia Brayfield spent approximately four months assisting Shirley Conran in the novelisation of Lace 2 from a 409-page treatment written by Shirley Conran for a four-hour TV mini series, and Celia Brayfield does not claim to be the author of Lace 2.
Your article goes on to cite a recent article in Writing magazine reproducing part of the original CV supplied to them in April, long before we knew of any problem. As that CV was open to misinterpretation, we had indeed agreed to destroy all copies of it but, unfortunately, were not aware that Writing magazine were still in possession of a copy, let alone that they were going to reproduce it as part of their interview.
Penguin apologises to Shirley Conran for any distress that we may inadvertently have caused her.
Clare Alexander
Director, Penguin Books
London W8
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments