The writers group PEN America has offered an olive branch to a group of prominent authors and literary figures who withdrew from its flagship World Voices festival in protest at its perceived stance over the Israel-Gaza war.
In an open letter published on Wednesday, the organization said it wants to meet with the authors and others in a public forum to foster a better understanding of its position and discuss “sharply divergent views on questions of deep consequence”.
It says it is also making “a substantial financial contribution”, believed to be about $100,000, to the Netherlands-based PEN emergency fund for distribution to Palestinian writers in what it asserts is an “expansion of existing support”.
A lack of backing for writers in Gaza was one of the allegations made by the authors last week in a highly critical letter to the literary freedom advocacy organization.
The group, including Naomi Klein, Michelle Alexander, Hisham Matar, Isabella Hammad and Zaina Arafat, accused PEN America of “betraying the organization’s professed commitment to peace and equality for all, and to freedom and security for writers everywhere” by failing to call for a ceasefire in the five-month war.
“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. Yet PEN America appears unwilling to stand with them firmly,” the 16 authors wrote, saying they would not participate in the 8-11 May festival in New York.
PEN America’s response on Wednesday was unambiguous in its ceasefire messaging.
“We call, alongside PEN International, for an immediate ceasefire and release of the hostages, an agreement that can pave the way for urgent humanitarian access and a lasting peace,” it said.
Additionally, it reasserted support for writers trapped by the Israeli military onslaught “by making clear our sorrow and anguish at the suffering endured by so many Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including authors, poets, artists, journalists, and others who have paid with their lives brutally and unfairly.
“We stand alongside the writers of Gaza who are struggling to survive. The ravages of the current war will linger as a stain on humanity for generations to come. We are devastated by warfare that has stolen lives, silenced voices, and left innocent people shattered, terrified, displaced, starving, and denied their freedom.
“Palestinian writers are firmly encompassed in our commitment to the freedom to write. We have offered direct, confidential assistance to individual Gazan writers and artists in need.”
The group says it hopes its offer to host a public event, featuring dialogue on the literary and artistic community’s response to the war and “inviting participants with varied perspectives, including those critical of PEN America”, will help foster understanding of its position, which it insists is to offer a platform for a diverse range of opinions.
The letter also appears to reflect growing frustration at criticism of the organization.
In January, authors Angela Flournoy, a National Book Award finalist, and Kathleen Alcott, winner of the O Henry prize, withdrew from a PEN new year event in Los Angeles to oppose the organization’s sponsorship of a separate gathering featuring Mayim Bialik, an author, actor and vocal supporter of Israel’s military action.
Last month, hundreds of writers including Roxane Gay, Maaza Mengiste and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah wrote to PEN condemning what they called its “silence” over “Palestinian journalists, writers, and poets murdered by Israel” outside of “press releases buried on its website”.
In today’s letter, PEN America points out that its mission of representing writers who express wide-ranging viewpoints and positions makes it impossible to always appease everybody.
“We have been accused of antisemitism, anti-Palestinian bias, unfairness toward Israel, double-standards, moral equivocation, and complicity in genocide,” it said. “Some feedback is public, some private, and some has gotten personal. As a community, we are aghast witnessing the brutal toll of human suffering.
“Beyond that, there are sharply divergent views on questions of deep consequence. As an organization open to all writers, we see no alternative but to remain home to this diversity of opinions and perspectives, even if, for some, that very openness becomes [a] reason to exit.”
PEN America said it was also pressing ahead with the World Voices festival, but that it was disappointed to have to exclude a panel tentatively titled The Palestinian Exception to Free Speech “that was to have included several of the writers who have now told us they will not take part”.
