The 92nd Street Y literary center in New York has cancelled a scheduled event with Viet Thanh Nguyen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist, over his stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The event, which was supposed to take place on Friday, was part of the library’s series of talks with prominent writers and thinkers.
Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American professor and writer whose novel “The Sympthizer” won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and was scheduled to speak at the 92nd Street Y literary center’s Christopher Lightfoot Walker Reading Series event in Manhattan, on Friday, at 8pm .
Writing on Instagram, Nguyen said he learned at 3pm that the event had been cancelled by the 92NY. The center describes itself on its website as “a proudly Jewish organisation.” “Their language was ‘postponment,’ but no reason was given, no other date was offered, and I was never asked,” Nguyen wrote.
“So, in effect, cancellation. Some people in social media comments say they heard it was a bomb threat. I’ve heard no such thing from 92Y staff.” A spokesperson for 92NY confirmed it postponed the event, citing Nguyen’s stance on Israel as well as the October 7 attack by militants of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and continued holding of hostages, which it said “has absolutely devastated the community.” Nguyen’s reprsentatives did not respond to messages seeking more details.
The cancellation of the event sparked outrage and condemnation from many quarters, including Nguyen himself, who took to Twitter to express his disappointment. He said that he was “deeply saddened” by the library’s decision, which he called “a blow to free speech and open debate”.
The cancellation of the event by 92NY with Nguyen comes amid a tense and volatile situation in Israel and Palestine, where violence has escalated in recent days following Israel’s bombardment of Gaza after October 7, Hamas attack.
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