Anti-Israel Writers Claim That They Forced Suzanne Nossel, the Head of PEN America, To Resign Last Week

PEN America is searching for new leadership after weathering months of criticism over its treatment of the war in Gaza.

CEO Suzanne Nossel announced Oct. 31 that she would step down from the intellectual-freedom group to lead Freedom House, an international nonprofit devoted to elevating democracy.

Nossel said her move was not related to disapproval from some literary circles. “My background is in foreign policy, international affairs, and Freedom House has been involved with that for a long time,” she told the Associated Press.

That background has been at the heart of some of the criticism, which reached a peak last spring when PEN America canceled its annual awards ceremony and signature World Voices literary festival after multiple writers pulled out in protest of a perceived lack of support for Palestinian voices.

Before coming to PEN America, perhaps best known these days for its work fighting censorship and book banning, Nossel worked at the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Critics said her support for Israel clouded her judgment and led to the sidelining of Palestinian writers and political stances.  “The priorities of the current leadership lie not with poets, essays, or novelists, but with her ‘former’ employer, the U.S. State Department,” charged Writers Against the War on Gaza, a group formed a few weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that left 1,200 dead.

WAWOG hailed Nossel’s departure as a win, following its call this summer for a boycott of PEN America and its programs. “Suzanne Nossel’s commitments to Zionism destroyed the reputation of PEN America,” the group said in a statement.

Nossel’s departure comes against the backdrop of ongoing feuds in the literary community over the war. Bookstores and festivals have canceled events over perceived support for Israel and Zionism, while lists of “Zionist” authors circulate.

PEN America called the Albany Book Festival’s decision to cancel an event after two panelists complained about the third’s support for Israel “tragic and outrageous.” But it also called for the reinstatement of one of the complainants after she lost her writer-in-residence post due to the controversy: “At a time of deep division and distress, literature must be a bridge, not a border, and we should hear more from writers, not less.”

Most recently, an Oct. 28 letter signed by hundreds of writers and book industry workers called for a boycott of Israeli literary festivals and institutions that are “complicit” or have “remained silent” on the plight of Palestinians. As of Nov. 4, signatories numbered in the thousands.

That prompted an Oct. 29 rebuttal letter from Creative Community for Peace, signed by thousands of writers and entertainment industry executives and workers (including, full disclosure, me). The letter urges readers to reject cultural boycotts based on “identity or litmus tests” that serve as roadblocks to open dialogue, awareness, and peace.