(Reuters) – Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen said on Saturday that a Jewish organization in New York City canceled his scheduled reading without providing any explanation. This decision came just a day after Nguyen signed an open letter condemning Israel’s “indiscriminate violence” against Palestinians in Gaza.
Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American professor and writer, is known for his acclaimed novel “The Sympathizer” which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He was supposed to speak at the 92nd Street Y literary center in Manhattan at 8 p.m.
Expressing his disappointment on Instagram, Nguyen revealed that he was informed of the cancellation at 3 p.m. by the 92NY. The literary center describes itself on its website as “a proudly Jewish organization.”
“Their official communication termed it as a ‘postponement,’ but they offered no reason, no alternative date, and never consulted with me,” Nguyen wrote. “So, essentially, it was a cancellation. Some social media comments speculate it was due to a bomb threat, but the 92Y staff has not confirmed this.”
Reuters reached out to spokespeople for 92NY for comment, but did not receive any response. Nguyen’s representatives have also not provided further details.
Nguyen’s decision to sign the open letter came after militants from the Palestine Islamist group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack into southern Israel, resulting in the death of 1,400 people. In response, Israel imposed a “total siege” on Gaza, leaving its 2.3 million inhabitants facing shortages of essential supplies such as food, water, medicine, and fuel.
In his Instagram post, Nguyen explained that he and other authors signed the letter in order to highlight the devastating impact of Israel’s policies, which inevitably leads to civilian deaths.
“This is unacceptable and it needs to stop,” he wrote, emphasizing his continued support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which advocates for economic pressure on Israel to end the occupation of Palestinian territories.
Nguyen revealed that the organizers of the event on Friday night moved it to an independent bookshop.
“During the event, I spoke not only about my book but also about how art is often silenced during times of war and division because some people only want to view the world in terms of ‘us versus them,'” Nguyen reflected. “For me, writing is the only way to fight and the only way to grieve.”
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani and David Ljunggren; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
