A publishing company yesterday said one of its books, by acclaimed author Mario Azzopardi, had been the latest victim of censorship.

Horizons Ltd issued a statement saying Mr Azzopardi’s collection of young adult fiction, Vampir U Rakkonti Oħra, which was published last month for the 2010 edition of Malta’s Book Fair, had been “absurdly banned” from school libraries.

They claimed the Library Services Section for Schools had issued a directive not to include certain “young adult literature” in secondary schools’ libraries.

Horizons Ltd said the official reason given was that Mr Azzopardi’s books were not suitable for a young reading public and have been listed as “adult fiction”, a classification the publishers described as “completely erratic”.

They said they were “baffled” by the directive, particularly in light of initiatives taken by the Parliamentary Secretariat for Youth to promote young and adult literature.

The publishers said discrimination against “contemporary issue literature” for the adolescent reader was preventing serious authors like Mario Azzopardi from reflecting societal changes in their works.

“What is happening in society has pushed young people to earlier maturity and we feel a commitment to publish authors like Azzopardi who are critically aware of such realities.”

Horizons pointed out that Mr Azzopardi’s first collection of stories for young adults, Alicia Titkellem mill-Imwiet, received an award in the teenage category from the National Book Council in 2008.

A reaction could not be obtained from the Education Ministry yesterday afternoon.