More than 1000 authors and literary figures worldwide, including Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux and Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy, have signed a pledge to boycott Israeli publishers implicated in Israel’s actions in Gaza and the Palestinian territories.
“We will not collaborate with Israeli cultural institutions that are complicit or have remained silent on the oppression of Palestinians,” the statement reads.
Notable signatories include Irish author Sally Rooney, known for Normal People and her criticism of Israeli policies, Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Booker Prize nominee Maaza Mengiste. The TRT.com published this breaking news today.
Six advocacy groups, including Books Against Genocide and The Palestine Festival of Literature, organized the boycott. They reviewed 98 Israeli publishers, finding only one, November Books, that openly opposes inequality and apartheid.
Organizers claim many Israeli publishers support the occupation, highlighting examples like Modan Publishing, which produces Ministry of Defense propaganda, and Bar-Ilan University Press, which partners with the Jewish National Fund on books promoting “land building and settlement.”
The letter states, “Culture has played an integral role in normalizing these injustices,” urging publishers, editors, and agents to recognize their “moral responsibility” and end their engagement with complicit Israeli institutions.
In response, UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) stated industry groups, arguing that the boycott “plainly discriminates against Israelis” by targeting Israeli institutions and warning of possible legal implications under anti-discrimination laws.
Organizers, including PalFest co-founder Omar Robert Hamilton, dismissed UKLFI’s response as “morally bankrupt,” arguing that it only highlights how “Israel’s defenders lack substantive responses.”
