New York literary festival cancels event after two authors protest ‘Zionist’ speaker

Award-winning novelist Elisa Albert was set to moderate a panel at Saturday's Albany Book Festival, a literary event she attends annually, until she received an email on Thursday from one of the festival's organizers about a "crazy situation developing." "Basically, not to sugar coat this, Aisha Gawad and Lisa Ko don't want to be on a panel with a 'Zionist,'" the organizer said, naming two of the three other authors with whom Albert was set to appear on a panel. The topic of their discussion: Girls coming of age. The event was canceled. "The institute was really shocked and apologetic and asked me what I wanted to see happen," Albert told Jewish Insider on Friday. "I told them I wanted to see them issue an unequivocal statement that bigotry and antisemitism are absolutely unacceptable and the panel would proceed with or without these people participating. They did not. They were not able to do that." Before the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel last year, Albert would never have been able to imagine something like this happening. But after a year that Albert described as "nightmarish" because of her decision to speak out against Hamas and to call out apologists for the terror group's deadly attacks, she isn't surprised. "Ive lost friends. Ive been ghosted. Ive been goy-splained. Ive been demonized. Ive been mocked. I have had a little stalker issue. Ive gotten hate mail. I have nightmares," Albert recounted. "Its not cute, and I wouldnt wish it on anyone, but I do feel like I have no choice but to be courageous and continue to stand as tall as I can." Jews unwilling to disavow Zionism have faced widespread discrimination and exclusion in progressive circles since Oct. 7, and the literary world has been at the center of the storm. A spreadsheet titled "Is Your Fav Author a Zionist?" went viral this spring. A militant activist group titled WAWOG — Writers Against the War on Gaza — has targeted anyone in the literary community who refuses to call what's happening in Gaza a "genocide." A bookstore in Brooklyn canceled an event last month because the moderator, a liberal rabbi, is a Zionist. In Brooklyn, the owner of the bookstore apologized for the cancellation and blamed it on the "grossly misguided" decision of a single employee. "This exclusionary language would have stung no matter where it was uttered, but bookstores cannot fulfill their basic raison d'etre without an unflinching commitment to the free and open exchange of ideas," the statement from Powerhouse Books stated. The director of the New York State Writers Institute (NYSWI) at the University at Albany, which hosts the festival, did not apologize for what happened. He seemed to hint at the importance of respecting opposing viewpoints without mentioning why the event had been canceled. "The Writers Institute was disappointed that the Girls Coming of Age event at the Festival this weekend couldn't take place," said NYSWI director Paul Grondahl. "Sharing the differences between us can be an exceptional opportunity for conversations that raise awareness and empathy. But we also understand that such discussions can be difficult and support everyone's right to advocate for themselves." Mark Koplik, NYSWI's assistant director, said the hosting organization "stood up to those who wanted to remove [Albert]," but said the event was canceled because "we no longer had a panel to be moderated." "We fully support Elisa's expression of outrage and disappointment. We believe in civil dialogue, and we condemn intolerance of any kind," Koplik said in an email to JI. "We unequivocally condemn antisemitism." Albert offered to "show up alone and discourse with whoever's there about why no one else is here," she said. "They were like, 'Yeah, no, we dont want to do that. Thats unfair to the festival goers. They didnt sign up to deal with a problem of this magnitude.' I was like, neither did I, dudes, but they just ducked. They tried to duck and cover. I was like, this is a terrible mistake." "Youre effectively silencing me. You're canceling me, then. You're robbing me of this opportunity because of some bigots," Albert explained. "Its really sad. These two people who refused to be on a stage with me, to share space with me, its really a shame. We probably have a lot to learn from each other. To refuse that is just a fundamentally hateful and shitty thing," said Albert. (Ko and Gawad did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.) Albert was in Israel with her family on Oct. 7, and she nearly spent that Shabbat in Kibbutz Be'eri. Her stepfather is from the community, located on Israel's border with Gaza. 101 people were killed and more than 30 were taken hostage from Be'eri on Oct. 7. With her posts, and with a November in Tablet that she titled "An open letter to Hamas' defenders," Albert has sought to reach her followers who reflexively post anti-Israel content without understanding the reality of what's happening in the Middle East. "Israels not what yall seem to want to think it is, and here I am with my boots on the ground. I have super complex, conflicted feelings, like everybody," said Albert. (In her Tablet , she proclaimed her opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called for an end to the occupation of the West Bank.) "But like a lot of us, I think I feel much more comfortable having my complicated, complex feelings there." Albert's most recent book , "The Snarling Girls and Other Essays," is a compilation of essays she has published in recent years, including some that deal with Judaism. Israel isn't a part of the book, although Albert says some of her novels have featured Israeli characters. She hasn't thought twice about her decision to speak up about her support for Israel after Oct. 7, even as she acknowledges that some of her "deepest, most beloved intimates" have made a choice to stay silent to avoid backlash. "I know what my truth is. I know what my authentic life looks like, and what Im for and what Im against, and Im pretty clear on that. Im pretty good with that. I dont really suffer fools, and Im not really willing to equivocate or play any games around it for political reasons," said Albert. "It can be argued that avoiding conflict or avoiding confrontation or avoiding difficult truth ultimately leads to more problems and more pain and more suffering, and the braver we can be, the better off we can be in the long run. So its like, pay now or pay later."