Talk by Pulitzer winner who backs Palestinians cancelled by NY Jewish institution

Talk by Pulitzer winner who backs Palestinians cancelled by NY Jewish institution



Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen said yesterday a Jewish organisation in New York City cancelled a reading he was due to give on Friday without explanation, a day after he said he signed an open letter condemning Israel’s indiscriminate violence against Palestinians in Gaza. — Reuters pic

Sunday, 22 Oct 2023 12:00 PM MYT


NEW YORK, Oct 22 — Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen said yesterday a Jewish organisation in New York City cancelled a reading he was due to give on Friday without explanation, a day after he said he signed an open letter condemning Israel’s “indiscriminate violence” against Palestinians in Gaza.

Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American professor and writer whose novel “The Sympathizer” won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was scheduled to speak at the 92nd Street Y literary centre’s Christopher Lightfoot Walker Reading Series event in Manhattan at 8pm.


Writing on Instagram, Nguyen said he learned at 3pm that the event had been cancelled by the 92NY. The centre describes itself on its website as “a proudly Jewish organisation.”

“Their language was ‘postponement,’ but no reason was given, no other date was offered, and I was never asked,” Nguyen wrote. “So, in effect, cancellation. Some people in social media comments say they heard it was a bomb threat. I’ve heard no such thing from 92Y staff.”


In a statement to Reuters, a spokesperson for 92NY confirmed it postponed the event, citing Nguyen’s stance on Israel as well as the October 7 attack by militants of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and continued holding of hostages, which it said “has absolutely devastated the community”.


“Given the public comments by the invited author on Israel and this moment, we felt the responsible course of action was to postpone the event while we take some time to determine how best to use our platform and support the entire 92NY community,” the spokesperson said.

Nguyen’s representatives did not respond to messages seeking more details.

The unprecedented attack into southern Israel by Hamas two weeks ago killed 1,400 people and resulted in Israel imposing a “total siege” of Gaza that has left the enclave’s 2.3 million people running out of food, water, medicines and fuel.

In an Instagram post on Thursday, Nguyen said he signed the open letter along with other authors because the effect of Israel’s policy was the inevitable death of civilians.

“That is wrong and it must stop,” he wrote, saying he remained a strong supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement that calls for economic pressure on Israel to end the occupation of Palestinian land.

Nguyen said the organisers of Friday night’s event switched it to an independent bookshop.

“I spoke about my book, yes, but also about how art is silenced in times of war and division because some people only want to see the world as us vs them,” Nguyen wrote on Saturday. “And writing is the only way I know how to fight. And writing is the only way I know how to grieve.” — Reuters