Irish booksellers remove David Walliams books from shelves after published accusations

Several Irish booksellers have decided to withdraw from sale books written by British comedian David Walliams, one of the bestselling children’s authors in Ireland, following allegations that he used his status to prey on young women for sex.

An episode of Ryan Tubridy’s book-related podcast, which featured Walliams, also appeared to have been removed from platforms.

On Tuesday, it was revealed that the Little Britain star, who denies any wrongdoing, has been accused by multiple women of using his power and status to prey on young women and teenagers for sex.

After a joint investigation by The Guardian and ITV News was published, Walliams’s books appeared to have vanished from the shelves of some major Irish retailers.

Hodges Figgis on Dawson Street, Dublin, removed Walliams’s titles from its shelves on Tuesday, staff told The Irish Times.

It appeared a similar move was made across the Waterstones chain of stores. A spokeswoman for Waterstones, which owns Hodges Figgis, said: “As HarperCollins ceased supply of all David Walliams’s existing books, we are in touch with them about returning the small number of copies which remain in stock in a few of our shops in due course.”

The publisher severed ties with the author in December.

There was also a noticeable gap among authors whose surnames begin with “W” on the children’s shelves in Dubray on Grafton Street, though a selection of about 10 of Walliams’s titles remained available in the flagship Eason store on O’Connell Street.

Eason, which also owns Dubray, did not respond to requests for comment.

Walliams is the third bestselling children’s author on record in Ireland, ahead of Harry Potter author JK Rowling, according to data from NielsenIQ BookData, which measures sales.

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Since records on print volume sales began in 2002, Walliams has sold about 1.9 million copies in Ireland, amounting to €19.5 million in value.

The 55-year-old is behind only Jeff Kinney, the US author behind the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, who has sold 2.1 million print copies, and Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo, who has sold 2.5 million.

Walliams reached widespread success with his range of children’s books, selling more than 60 million copies worldwide and spanning 55 languages.

He appeared on the first episode of The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy, a podcast sponsored by Eason, in April 2024.

However, on Tuesday, the episode appeared to have been removed from major streaming platforms Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

It is not clear when the episode was removed. Neither representatives for Tubridy nor Eason responded to requests for comment.