Retailers selling Ted Dawe's controversial teen novel Into the River are having compile waitlists and put in extra orders as people flock to buy the book now that censors have lifted the ban.

The New Zealand Film and Literature board lifted its temporary suspension on the sale and distribution of the book on Wednesday night, and also lifted a previous over-14s age restriction imposed on the work.

The response in Auckland was immediate, although a little more muted elsewhere.

Auckland Council's Louise LaHatte said demand at the city's libraries was high, with 52 holds already in place on the 54 copies they have available.

Jenna Todd, manager of Mt Eden bookstore Time Out, who had symbolically placed a copy in a brown paper bag in the shop window to protest the demand, said there was a "solid demand" for the book. They were busy filling back orders halted when the ban was imposed.

"I also think it's going to be the type of book that, when it's physically in store we will display it on our counter and it'll be something people pick up when they see it and realise, oh, I can buy this now," Todd said.

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"We've had a big flurry on Twitter and people are saying, well let us know when it's in. It's a great victory, it's actually a bit embarrassing for the people who tried to ban it, I think.

"We are very happy to take it out of that bag, it's very symbolic.'

In Wellington, there was less excitement. The city's libraries manager, John Stears, said they had four copies back on the shelves and eight in reserve. "So not a lot of interest currently but if it did pick up we would definitely consider getting more copies, we will keep an eye on it."

"There are so few books that are banned and then lifted so we don't really have a lot of experience with it. We will have to wait and see but we will get more in if there is a demand. We think the decision made by the board to lift the ban was great one."

One capital city store was unaware of the ban being lifted. Another, Unity Books, said they had a small waitlist of under ten customers: "We did have some people order the book, hopefully we can supply them soon but we have to wait for the publisher to send them as they weren't able to do so when it was banned," said Unity's Karen McLeod.

"The ban being lifted is a very good thing. We do curate our stock, but even if a customer requests something we don't agree with we will always try to get something in for a customer. Banning a book takes away people's rights to choose what they want to be exposed to.

"We are really happy that it can be sold finally and it is a good common sense decision because it's the second time round the book has been in question and I think we have established that it should be available. People should be able to choose their own books."

The film and literature board's decision was not unanimous, with board president Don Mathieson writing a strong dissenting view against the ban being lifted. The ban also attracted the outrage of Family First president Bob McCoskrie. A "thrilled" Dawe said: "It can finally do it's job, what it was always supposed to do."

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