October 23, 2024, 2:30pm
Viet Thanh Nguyen, Isabella Hammad, Maaza Mengiste, Laila Lalami, Sinan Antoon, Bryan Washington, and Susan Muaddi Darraj are among the hundreds of authors who have signed a petition calling for the reinstatement of Arab American writer Aisha Abdel Gawad, who was dismissed from her position as Writer-in-Residence at Wilton Library in September.
The petition—which was organized by Palestinian American writer Muaddi Darraj on behalf of the mentoring organization Radius of Arab American Writers (RAWI)—details how Gawad was fired from her role at the Wilton Library after she “chose to withdraw from a panel at the recent Albany Book Festival due to statements made by the panel’s moderator about the Israeli assault on Gaza.”
“I ultimately withdrew from the panel because of this writer’s public rhetoric, which I felt mocked anyone who expressed grief over loss of Palestinian life,” said Gawad, referring to recent social media posts and published articles by Elisa Albert, the panel’s scheduled moderator.
Both Gawad and novelist Lisa Ko (a co-panelist who wrote to the festival organizers in support of Gawad) have been subjected to harassment and death threats, as well as a broader smear campaign in the media, since news of the panel’s cancellation broke in late September.
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Here is the petition in full:
We, the undersigned, are concerned by the dismissal of Aisha Abdel Gawad from her position as Writer-in-Residence at Wilton Library, and we call for her immediate reinstatement.
Abdel Gawad chose to withdraw from a panel at the recent Albany Book Festival (The New York Writers Institute organized the panel) due to statements made by the panel’s moderator about the Israeli assault on Gaza. Abdel Gawad expressed her concerns privately to the Writers Institute organizers. “I ultimately withdrew from the panel because of this writer’s public rhetoric, which I felt mocked anyone who expressed grief over loss of Palestinian life,” Abdel Gawad says. Fellow panelist Lisa Ko wrote to the festival organizers in support of Abdel Gawad though she did not withdraw from the panel.
Abdel Gawad’s private concerns were then mischaracterized and made public. The Wilton Library removed her from her position, and she and Ko have received death threats and harassing messages.
The Writers Institute has since admitted that they “should have been more thoughtful in how we approached this panel and the concerns that were raised by all the authors,” and that they “fell short of the ideal of celebrating diverse voices and conversations that create opportunities for understanding and mutual respect.”
Organizations must protect each writer’s fundamental right to determine whether or not they will participate in organized events. To remove a writer from a held position due to their personal decision-making silences voices, curbing dialogue. We must collectively resist a literary landscape where writers fear retaliation for free expression, perpetuating inequity and oppression.
In addition to Abdel Gawad’s reinstatement, we call for the Wilton Library to issue a public apology. We also call on the New York Writers Institute to apologize publicly to both Abdel Gawad and Lisa Ko. We call for solidarity with Abdel Gawad and Ko, and all writers who have been targeted for their pro-ceasefire and anti-war views.