Nearly a month after the first edition of celebrated author Gabriel Garcia Marquez's latest book sold out in Iran, cultural officials have reportedly banned the title.
The Culture Ministry has refused to allow a new print run of the Farsi translation of Marquez's book Memories of My Melancholy Whores, the Fars News Agency reported on Wednesday.
Officials said the initial publication of the title had been a bureaucratic error and that the person who had originally authorized the book's publication has been fired, reported Agence France-Presse.
The first edition, which was released about three weeks ago as Memories of My Melancholy Sweethearts, included about 5,000 copies of the title.
All publications must be first be approved by Iran's Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance, which regulates a host of cultural matters, including the publishing of books, music and movies — all screened to see if they fall in line with conservative Islamic values.
Memories of My Melancholy Whores, which tells of a nameless, 90-year-old man who becomes besotted with a 14-year-old girl in a brothel, was originally published in Spanish in 2004. The English-language translation appeared in Oct. 2005.
The Colombian-born author's One Hundred Years of Solitude had also been a subject of a ban in the Muslim country, but copies turned up on the black market.
The acclaimed author and Nobel laureate has been in vogue of late, with a film adaptation of his epic romance Love in the Time of Cholera and talk show host Oprah Winfrey recently selecting the title for her successful televised book club.
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