The author of a paperback called "Lucky Lips,” was arrested in Kapuskasing on Aug. 17 and is facing a number of obscenity charges.

A child pornography case involving a 1991 novel is making its way through the court system in northeastern Ontario.

William Robert Williamson, author of a paperback called "Lucky Lips,” was arrested in Kapuskasing on Aug. 17 and is facing a number of obscenity charges.

Online bookstore Amazon.com no longer carries "Lucky Lips,” but the listing for the novel is still on the website. The Hardy Boys-like cover shows three boys sitting and standing together in jeans and striped polo shirts. The book was published in 1991 and is described as an exploration of "erotic boysexuality.”

According to an OPP press release issued Aug. 17, police searched a Kapuskasing residence after receiving information that the occupant authored and published a novel meeting the written definition of Child Pornography in the Criminal Code of Canada. During the course of the search, a computer was seized that allegedly contained images of child sexual abuse.

The legislation on written child pornography isn't so cut and dry for Cara Zwibel, a lawyer with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

Encroaching on rights

"There's always a bit of a concern with these kinds of charges when they're with respect to written material,” she said.

“Our concern is just that we have — under the constitution the freedom of expression — the freedom of thought … this may be kind of capturing a bit too much and encroaching on some of those rights."

But for Johnathon Rosenthal, the national legal spokesperson for Beyond Borders, a children's rights organization, “the law is very clear.”

“You can't write about children under the age of 18 engaging in sexual activity, so it's no different than you can't photograph people under the age of 18 having sex."

Williamson, 57, will next appear in a Kapuskasing court Nov. 1.