Sydney Library Returns 'How to Sell a Genocide' to Shelves After State Intervention
A public library in Sydney has returned the book How to Sell a Genocide to its shelves after a brief but contentious review period, ending with an intervention from the State Library of New South Wales. The reinstatement on August 28, 2026, followed a public campaign and a formal reminder from the state authority about the council's legal obligations. The Guardian
Waverley Council confirmed it had removed How to Sell a Genocide: The Media's Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza from library shelves on August 18, 2026, pending a review. The removal came after the Jewish news outlet JWire reported it had approached the council regarding the title. The Sydney Morning Herald The Guardian
The complaint that prompted the removal reportedly came from a survivor of the Bondi Beach terror attack. That detail places the library's decision within a local atmosphere of communal tension, where the choice of what sits on public shelves met head-on with the sensitivities of a community member affected by political violence. The Guardian
How to Sell a Genocide was published by Pluto Press and written by Adam Johnson. The book critiques what it calls the US media's complicity in the destruction of Gaza. Johnson welcomed the decision to reinstate his book but criticized Waverley Council for refusing to disclose what complaint had prompted the removal. The Guardian
The catalyst for the book's return was a letter from the State Library of New South Wales to Waverley Council. The State Library reminded the council of its obligations under guidelines issued by the Library Council of NSW and the Library Act — a piece of legislation amended in 2026 to reinforce library independence in building and maintaining collections. This legal framework directly limits the ability of local councils to pull materials from shelves in response to public pressure. The Guardian
The friction between the local council and the state-level library authority reflects a broader structural tension. Local councils are designed to be responsive to constituent complaints. State library laws, by contrast, mandate a degree of institutional autonomy for collection development — a buffer intended to shield libraries from political pressure and censorship. The 2026 amendment to the Library Act served its intended purpose here, giving the State Library the leverage needed to overturn a localized administrative decision.
Public opposition to the removal mobilized quickly. Ramia Abdo Sultan, a lawyer and board member of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, helped organize a petition calling for the book's return. The change.org petition gathered nearly 2,500 signatures. As of late August 2026, 21 people were on a waiting list at Waverley library for the title — suggesting that the controversy itself drove public interest in the book. The Guardian
Waverley library is located at 32-48 Denison St, Bondi Junction, NSW 2022, Australia. The facility can be contacted by phone at 02 9083 8777 and by email at Library_enquiries@waverley.nsw.gov.au. Waverley Council
The institution offers a Home Library Service where its team selects and delivers items to people's homes or care facilities. Waverley library also provides free Justice of the Peace services on Saturdays from 10am to 12pm. Waverley Council
The broader context here is one of precedent. The resolution of the How to Sell a Genocide case gives library boards across New South Wales a working example of how to handle future disputes over materials related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Local councils now face a clarified legal landscape: removals prompted by individual complaints must survive scrutiny under the reinforced independence mandates of the Library Act. The lack of transparency that Johnson criticized — the council's refusal to detail the initial complaint — remains a point of friction between authors and the municipal authorities that manage public collections.
