‘We respect their decision and we will celebrate these writers in other ways,’ says Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, who oversees PEN’s literary programming
Several authors have turned down awards and awards nominations from PEN America, citing unhappiness with the literary and free expression organization’s stance on the war in Gaza .
The awards are scheduled to be handed out during an April 29 ceremony in Manhattan, hosted by writer-comedian Jena Friedman. A PEN spokesperson said that nine out of 60 nominated authors had asked for their names to be withdrawn. PEN also confirmed that Esther Allen had declined the PEN/Ralph Manheim Award for translation and added that it would soon announce a new winner.
“Palestine’s poets, scholars, novelists and journalists and essayists have risked everything, including their lives and the lives of their families, to share their words with the world,” the letter reads in part. “Yet PEN America appears unwilling to stand with them firmly against the powers that have oppressed and dispossessed them for the last 75 years.”
The criticisms come before PEN’s high-profile spring events, including the PEN literary awards and a key May 16 fund-raising gala at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. Klein and the letter’s other signers have said they will be boycotting PEN’s “World Voices” festival next month in Los Angeles and New York, an international gathering featuring panel discussions and lectures.
“I’m always pleased to be associated with PEN, whose work promoting and protecting writers is even more vitally important in turbulent, troubled times like ours.”
Pen Gaza Letter War Kushner Awards Award Winner Elaine May Naomi Klein Kenneth Lonergan
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