Outstanding literary group PEN America has canceled its annual awards ceremony, which was because of be held subsequent week, after 28 authors selected to withdraw their books from consideration. The group has confronted growing backlash over its response to the Israel-Hamas Conflict. Amongst these dropping out was debut novel finalist Rachel Eliza Griffiths, spouse of former PEN president Salman Rushdie, based on the Related Press.
Of these withdrawing are additionally 9 out of the ten authors nominated for the PEN/Jean Stein Guide Award. The Literary Property of Jean Stein has directed PEN America to donate the $75,000 award to the Palestine Kids’s Reduction Fund, representatives mentioned on Monday.
The choice to cancel the awards comes within the wake of escalating upset in opposition to PEN America. A sequence of open letters signed by PEN nominees in latest weeks have criticized the group for allegedly selecting sides in opposition to Gaza within the conflict that began after the October 7 Hamas assault on Israel, the BBC reported. Based on LitHub, greater than 1,000 writers and poets have signed an open letter to the group, calling on it to “discover the identical zeal and fervour that they’ve for banned books within the U.S. to talk out about precise human beings in Palestine.”
In one other letter, launched in March, Naomi Klein was amongst a outstanding group of writers who introduced they have been pulling out of this 12 months’s PEN World Voices Pageant saying, “Within the context of Israel’s ongoing conflict on Gaza, we imagine that PEN America has betrayed the group’s professed dedication to peace and equality for all, and to freedom and safety for writers in all places.”
In an announcement launched on Monday relating to the cancelation of its awards, PEN America’s Literary Programming Chief Officer Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf mentioned, “We drastically respect that writers have adopted their consciences, whether or not they selected to stay as nominees of their respective classes or not. We remorse that this unprecedented scenario has taken away the highlight from the extraordinary work chosen by esteemed, insightful and hard-working judges throughout all classes. As a corporation devoted to freedom of expression and writers, our dedication to recognizing and honoring excellent authors and the literary neighborhood is steadfast.”
Additionally on Monday, Katrina Vanden Heuvel, Wendy Vanden Heuvel and Invoice Clegg, on behalf of the inspiration and the Literary Property of Jean Stein, supplied an announcement studying, “Jean Stein was a passionate advocate for Palestinian rights who revealed, supported, and celebrated Palestinian writers and visible artists. Whereas she established the PEN America award in her identify to deliver consideration to and supply significant help to writers of the very best literary achievement, we all know she would have revered the stance and sacrifice of the writers who’ve withdrawn from competition this 12 months. To honor their choice the Property of Jean Stein has directed PEN America to donate the $75,000 award to the Palestine Kids’s Reduction Fund.”
Though there might be no ceremony this 12 months, PEN America mentioned it “is honored to acknowledge the profession achievement winners together with playwright Tony Kushner for the 2024 PEN/Mike Nichols Writing for Efficiency Award.” Rachel Zegler, who starred within the 2021 Kushner-Steven Spielberg adaptation of West Aspect Story, had been because of current the award throughout the now-canceled ceremony.
