Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen announced on Saturday that a Jewish organization in New York City canceled an event for reading one of his works yesterday without explanation, just a day after he declared his signing of an open letter condemning the "indiscriminate violence" that Israel practices against Palestinians in Gaza. Nguyen, a university professor and American author of Vietnamese descent, was scheduled to speak at a cultural center in Manhattan at 8 PM last night. His novel "The Sympathizer" won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2016.
Nguyen stated in a post on his Instagram account that the "92 NY" center informed him of the cancellation at 3 PM yesterday. The center describes itself on its website as an "organization proud to be Jewish." A spokesperson for the center confirmed to Reuters that the event was postponed, attributing this to Nguyen's stance on Israel in addition to the attack on October 7 by militants from Hamas and the ongoing hostage situation.
Nguyen stated in an Instagram post on Thursday that he and other writers signed the open letter because Israeli policy would inevitably lead to civilian deaths. He wrote, "This is wrong and must stop," and stated that he strongly supports the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which calls for economic pressure on Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories.
