Dunedin author Emma Neale will hold a silent reading protest against the ban for Ted Dawe's book, Into The River.

A silent reading protest against the banning of a book is spreading nationwide.

Dunedin author Emma Neale, who worked on the initial assessment and editing phase of Ted Dawe's Into the River, will silently read from the book to protest its ban following a complaint by the conservative lobby group Family First.

An interim ban makes it a crime to supply, display, or distribute the book in any way. It is the first time an interim ban has been imposed on a book since the current law was passed 22 years ago.

"I was so shocked by this news. It seems so ludicrous," Neale said.

"I don't think a minority group should be able to prevent young adults from reading any particular book."

The Thursday protest, which will be held at noon at the University of Otago, has inspired simultaneous protests in Wellington and Auckland.

"I wanted to make a statement without breaking the law. I'm not a firebrand."

Some protesters were planning on bringing other books that have been banned, such as DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover.

Neale said "shock headlines" about the book's sexual content failed to convey that it was not "written to excite or titillate".

"It is directed at a readership that is not normally catered for, and it is confronting issues that we are obviously uncomfortable with confronting as a nation.

"The way Family First focused on elements such as the sex scenes and drug taking, which is not condoned by the book at all, has completely removed the focus that this is about a disenfranchised and disadvantaged young Maori boy sent to a privileged boarding school, but is then subjected to so many different forms of racism."

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She said the work of fiction was suitable for older teens and adults alike and "if a 13-14-year-old was sophisticated enough to read it . . . they would be sophisticated enough to understand the nuances of character and decision making".

"I would understand if some parents said, 'My child's not ready for this'. It is their right to choose but it is not anyone else's right to ban the book outright."

Neale was heartened by the public outcry and hoped the interim decision was just "a chance to take a deep breath and rethink the whole process".