Seventy notable writers and publishers including Rachel Kushner, Francisco Goldman and Eileen Myles have signed a letter supporting Irish novelist Sally Rooney in her refusal to have her third novel translated into Hebrew by an Israeli publisher.
The letter calls Rooney’s boycott of Israeli publishers “an exemplary response to the mounting injustices inflicted on Palestinians.”
Rooney published her newest novel, “Beautiful World, Where Are You,” in September, but wouldn’t accept an offer to sell the Hebrew translation rights to Modan, the Israeli publisher responsible for putting out her first two novels in Israel. She said she was refusing to do further business with Modan out of support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, a Palestinian initiative against Israeli rule.
In response, Israel’s largest booksellers decided to remove Rooney’s earlier novels from their shelves. The two books, which were popular in Israel, will no longer be available in the 200 retail locations of bookstores chains Steimatzky and Tzomet Sefarim nor on the chains’ websites.
On Nov. 22, a pro-Palestinian group called Artists for Palestine UK announced it had organized a letter of support for Rooney with a list of signatories from the United States and Great Britain.
“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,” the letter said. “We will continue to support the nonviolent Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality.”
In defending Rooney, the letter said that Modan markets texts published by Israel’s Ministry of Defense and cited a Human Rights Watch report from April that Israel is guilty of instituting a regime of “apartheid.”
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
