PEN America cancels awards ceremony after controversy over Gaza

After weeks of controversy over its response to the war in Gaza, the free speech nonprofit PEN America has decided to cancel its annual literary awards ceremony, which had been set to take place next week in New York. Nearly half the nominees had withdrawn from consideration, with some accusing the organization of not more firmly denouncing Israel’s actions.

“We refuse to gild the reputation of an organization that runs interference for an administration aiding and abetting genocide with our tax dollars,” a group of the nominees wrote Wednesday in a letter addressed to PEN America’s executive board and trustees. “And we refuse to take part in anything that will serve to overshadow PEN’s complicity in normalizing genocide.”

In an email Monday to judges for the awards, Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, chief program officer of literary programming, wrote: “In light of these developments, we regret that we cannot celebrate and recognize this year’s nominated writers in the way we had originally planned. As a result, unfortunately we have made the difficult decision to not move forward with the scheduled awards ceremony on April 29. This is an unprecedented situation for our team and we had not anticipated writing to you with this news.”

Judges had already selected five finalists and a winner for each award. PEN America said Monday that winners who had not withdrawn would still receive their cash prizes; in categories in which the selected author had withdrawn, no winners would be announced. Only two winners were named: “Countries of Origin,” by Javier Fuentes, won the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut novel; Patty Crane won the award for poetry in translation, for “The Blue House: Collected Works of Tomas Tranströmer.”

Of 61 authors and translators nominated for a book prize this year, 28 declined. Out of 12 emerging writers chosen for an award for debut short fiction, three turned it down; a fourth, who had withdrawn hours after learning he had won, was replaced by a runner-up before the winners were publicly announced. For the most prestigious and lucrative book prize — the PEN/Jean Stein award, which comes with $75,000 — nine of 10 finalists had dropped out.

Representatives for the literary estate of Jean Stein said the money would be donated to the Palestine Children’s Relief fund, saying that Stein was “a passionate advocate for Palestinian rights who published, supported, and celebrated Palestinian writers and visual artists” and who “would have respected the stance and sacrifice of the writers who have withdrawn from contention this year.”

Discontent with PEN America had been building since early this year. Authors canceled appearances at programs and refused spots on award juries over what they considered the organization’s inadequate response to the plight of Palestinian writers, journalists and activists. Many also specifically objected to the physical removal of author Randa Jarrar while she was protesting a PEN-sponsored discussion in January of comedian Moshe Kasher’s memoir “Subculture Vulture,” an event that featured actor Mayim Bialik. Bialik has been an outspoken supporter of Israel and an opponent of a cease-fire in Gaza; Jarrar and other protesters from the group Writers Against the War on Gaza were shouting, through a loudspeaker, the names of Palestinian writers killed in Gaza.

In March, about two dozen writers pulled out of the PEN World Voices Festival, set for May. More than a thousand signed an open letter demanding that PEN America “find the same zeal and passion that they have for banned books in the US to speak out about actual human beings in Palestine.” Public statements were exchanged: PEN America called “for an immediate ceasefire and release of the hostages” being held in Gaza and outlined other initiatives, including a donation to an emergency fund aiding Palestinian writers. The former festival participants recommended an external review of PEN America’s positions on Israel.

The awards announcement on April 8 brought a wave of even more forceful criticism. Twenty-one nominees signed a letter calling for the resignations of top PEN leaders, including chief executive Suzanne Nossel and president Jennifer Finney Boylan. “Among writers of conscience, there is no disagreement,” the letter said. “There is fact and fiction. The fact is that Israel is leading a genocide of the Palestinian people. PEN’s perpetuation of false equivalences, their equivocation and normalizing, is indeed a betrayal.”

PEN America had responded by calling this language “alarming.” It added: “The current war in Gaza is horrific. But we cannot agree that the answer to its wrenching dilemmas and consequences lies in a shutting down of conversation and the closing down of viewpoints.”

Amid a stream of additional social media announcements from writers dropping out of the awards or festival, novelist Salman Rushdie and eight other past PEN America presidents wrote a joint letter urging authors to “keep faith in the community that we have built together.” Boylan also issued a statement Thursday attempting to defuse the tension. (The opening lines muse about coining a new collective noun for poets, essayists and novelists: “A schism of writers.”) Her statement announced the creation of a working group that would examine the nonprofit’s activities from the past decade to “ensure we are aligned with our mission, and to make recommendations about how we respond to future conflicts” and concluded: “I am looking forward to hearing the many conflicting voices of my fellow authors — and readers — in days to come.”

The awards ceremony — spotlighting emerging and international writers, and attracting Hollywood talent as hosts and special guests — usually kicks off a celebratory season for PEN America, including its annual fundraising gala and bicoastal World Voices Festival.

Asked Monday morning whether she anticipated the World Voices Festival proceeding as usual, Nossel responded, “You know, it’s hard to say.”

She continued, “Look, our community is very divided. We’re an organization that’s prided itself on building this broad constituency and engaging all sorts of voices on all sorts of topics, and we’re very committed to doing that and trying to make that possible, even when it’s the most challenging. So, you know, I’d say we’re in a troubleshooting mode, trying to figure out the best way to fulfill this mission at kind of an unprecedented time.” Nossel declined to comment on the demand that she resign.

Camonghne Felix, who declined the PEN/Jean Stein Award nomination for her novel “Dyscalculia,” said writers’ stance toward the organization had shifted. “We are no longer willing to accept the bare minimum from institutions that have the power — power built on our backs — to do more in the world for writers. We cannot hope to change every institution, but we hope that by changing ourselves what we will accept, that the organizations will have no choice but to bend towards us.”