New Delhi: Hundreds of writers gathered at New York’s Judson Memorial Church on May 7 under the banner of Freedom to Write for Palestine, an event organised by writers who had withdrawn from PEN America’s World Voices Festival and Literary Awards.
More than 600 writers and poets, including Roxane Gay, Alissa Nutting, Marie-Helene Bertino, Kiese Laymon, Saeed Jones and Fady Joudah among others, had written to PEN America “to do the bare minimum” for Palestinian authors in February.
Subsequently, both, the festival and the awards were cancelled over the organisation’s response to the war in Gaza, Publisher Weekly’s report said.
The May 7 gathering – a fundraiser for We Are Not Numbers, a youth-led nonprofit in Gaza that supports young Palestinian writers – was a part of the ongoing Palestine Festival of Literature initiative.
Novelist Nancy Kricorian described the event as an “alternative” to the World Voices Festival. She emphasised its importance as a platform to denounce the war in Gaza, express solidarity with Palestinians and maintain pressure on PEN America. Kricorian highlighted that this pressure had already resulted in the cancellation of PEN’s two major spring events.
“PEN America’s failure to take a stand is what brings us here tonight,” Kricorian said as she gave a “shoutout” to the PEN America union, PEN United, for persistently bargaining for higher salaries and “accountability from PEN leadership” for more than a year.
Allen, cofounder of the World Voices Festival 2004 criticised PEN America’s “appalling taciturnity” on the war in Gaza, labelling it as “part of a broader pattern of silencing and erasure” and contrasted it with PEN’s decision to cancel its largest writer-centred events while proceeding with its annual fundraising gala, suggesting a stark difference in priorities.
More than 70 writers withdrew from PEN’s Literary Awards and World Voices Festival, which was supposed to be held in New York City on April 29 and from May 8–11, respectively.
