Leading writers support Sally Rooney decision to refuse publication in Israel
Seventy prominent writers, poets and playwrights from several continents, have signed a letter endorsing Sally Rooney’s decision to turn down an offer with an Israel publishing house, describing it as
“an exemplary response to the mounting injustices inflicted on Palestinians”.
Among the signatories are award-winning Irish authors Niamh Campbell and Kevin Barry ; Rachel Kushner, Eileen Myles and Eliot Weinburger from the US ; Monica Ali, Caryl Churchill, China Miéville and Kamila Shamsie from the UK.
The writers say that in May this year Rooney was one of more than 16,000 artists who
“… condemned Israel’s crimes in ‘A Letter Against Apartheid’. Israeli apartheid, they said, is ‘sustained by international complicity ; it is our collective responsibility to redress this harm’. ”
Despite reports that that two bookshop chains with outlets both in Israel and in settlements in the occupied West Bank say they are pulling Rooney’s novels from their shops in retaliation, the signatories – including publishers Alexandra Pringle, Jacques Testard and Carmen Callil – affirmed their commitment to the Palestinian people, saying :
“Like her [Rooney], we will continue to respond to the Palestinian call for effective solidarity, just as millions supported the campaign against apartheid in South Africa.”
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Notes to editors
1- The letter in full :
As fellow writers, we wish to express our support for the novelist Sally Rooney.
Palestinian artists have asked their international colleagues to end complicity in Israel’s violations of their human rights, and this for many of us is a clear ethical obligation. Sally Rooney’s refusal to sign a contract with a mainstream Israeli publisher — which markets the work of the Israeli Ministry of Defence — is therefore an exemplary response to the mounting injustices inflicted on Palestinians.
It is less than a year since Human Rights Watchconcluded that Israel had ‘dispossessed, confined, forcibly separated, and subjugated Palestinians’, amounting to the ‘crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution’. It is only a few months since the last bombing of Gaza, since the most recent incursion into the Al-Aqsa mosque and the new round of expulsion orders in occupied East Jerusalem.
This is the context of Sally Rooney’s decision. In making it, she is not alone. In May, she was one of more than 16,000 artists who condemned Israel’s crimes in ‘A Letter AgainstApartheid’. Israeli apartheid, they said, is ‘sustained by international complicity ; it is our collective responsibility to redress this harm’.
In supporting Sally Rooney, we reassert that responsibility. Like her, we will continue to respond to the Palestinian call for effective solidarity, just as millions supported the campaign against apartheid in South Africa. We will continue to support the nonviolent Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality.
2. Full list of 70 signatories :
Maan Abu Taleb writer
Hanan Al-Shaykh writer
Tariq Ali writer, broadcaster
Monica Ali writer
Suad Amiry writer
Kevin Barry writer
Ronan Bennet writer, screenwriter
Nicholas Blincoe writer
Season Butler writer, artist
Carmen Callil writer, publisher, critic
Niamh Campbell writer
Caryl Churchill playwright
Sarah Clancy poet
Isabel Coixet screenwriter
Robert Coover writer
Molly Crabapple writer, artist
Selma Dabbagh writer
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz writer
Geoff Dyer writer
Ben Ehrenreich writer, journalist
Inua Ellams writer, artist
Lynn Gaspard publisher
Francisco Goldman writer
David Harsent poet
Seán Hewitt poet, critic
Rita Ann Higgins poet
Rachel Holmes writer
Brigid Keenan writer
Hannah Khalil playwright
Nancy Kricorian writer
Rachel Kushner writer
Paul Laverty screenwriter
Ed Luker poet
Sabrina Mahfouz poet, playwright
Emer Martin writer
Ahmed Masoud writer
Tessa McWatt writer
Pauline Melville writer
Lina Meruane writer
China Miéville writer
Dana Naomy Mills writer
Pankaj Mishra writer
Michel S Moushabeck publisher
Eileen Myles poet
Karthika Nair poet
Courttia Newland writer, screenwriter
Andrew O’Hagan writer
John Oakes publisher
Nii Ayikwei Parkes writer, editor, curator
Vijay Prashad historian, editor
Alexandra Pringle publisher
Keith Ridgway writer
David Riker screenwriter
Bruce Robbins writer, scholar
Colin Robinson publisher
Andrew Ross writer
Joe Sacco cartoonist, journalist
Sapphire writer
James Schamus screenwriter
Kamila Shamsie writer
Jack Shenker writer
Rick Simonson bookseller
Gillian Slovo writer
Ahdaf Soueif writer
Jacques Testard publisher
V playwright, performer
William Wall writer
Naomi Wallace playwright, screenwriter
Eliot Weinberger writer
Penny Woolcock screenwriter, director
3. Human Rights Watch report (April 2021) : A Threshold Crossed : Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution
4. ‘This is not a conflict : this is apartheid’ : over 16,000 artists sign letter in solidarity with Palestine
5. Sally Rooney novels pulled from Israeli bookstores following translation boycott, (The Guardian, November 2021)
6. The retailers said to be pulling Sally Rooney’s novels operate in Israeli settlements.
i) Steimatzky bookstore’s branch in Ma’ale Adumim, one of the largest settlement blocks on occupied Palestinian land
ii) Tzomet bookstore’s branch located on Faran street, in Ramat Eshkol settlement.
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