On the evening of January 31, a PEN America event in Los Angeles, featuring a discussion between comedian Moshe Kasher and actor Mayim Bialik, an avid supporter of Israel, was disrupted by a group of six protesters from Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG). The protest, centred on the loss of 13 Palestinian writers and poets killed by Israeli forces since October 7, escalated when author Randa Jarrar was physically removed from the scene by security personnel.

Disruption at PEN America event raises questions on free speech

The demonstrators, seeking to highlight the deaths of Palestinian literary figures, employed loudspeakers to project the names of the deceased, causing a significant interruption to the scheduled conversation. This event, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles-based literary nonprofit Writers Bloc, quickly became a focal point for discussions on free speech and the right to protest.

Read: Writers Against War on Gaza: thousands support letter

In response to the incident and the subsequent physical removal of Jarrar, PEN America released a statement expressing regret over the measures taken to continue the event. “Alongside many in the literary community, we mourn the immense loss of Palestinian lives in Gaza. We have paid tribute to writers and artists who have been killed in the conflict,” the statement read. It further stressed PEN America’s commitment to free speech, including the right to protest, while also highlighting the importance of not allowing protests to impede the speech of others.

Allison Lee, Los Angeles director of PEN America, articulated the establishment’s stance on protests at public events, stressing that “the open exchange of ideas cannot devolve into an environment where only the loudest voices are heard.” Lee reaffirmed the necessity for a balanced approach to handling controversial speakers and the protests they may elicit.

In the aftermath, WAWOG issued an open letter to PEN America, urging the organisation to acknowledge the deaths of Palestinian writers and journalists, pointing to the urgency of the situation and the increasing death toll among Palestinian literary figures. The letter accuses PEN of silence on the matter, pressing the organisation to clarify its stance on whose lives and voices are deemed significant.

Jarrar told Publishers Lunch: “PEN has not made a statement or done anything to help the many writers trapped in Gaza and being imprisoned in the West Bank… Last night, members of WAWOG protested the event by playing the names of 13 writers killed by Israeli airstrikes in the last 100 days alone.”

Literary community divided: the aftermath of the protest

The controversy surrounding PEN America’s engagement with Bialik led to the withdrawal of novelists Angela Flournoy and Kathleen Alcott from a prior event, with Flournoy describing the decision to involve Bialik as “unconscionable.”

In their January 18 emails to Jenn Dees, the programme’s director at PEN America in Los Angeles, and Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America since 2013, Flournoy and Alcott highlighted Writers Bloc Presents’ previous cancellation of an event with Nathan Thrall, author of “A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy,” in October, questioning the alignment with an organisation that seemed to shy away from contentious topics.

Moreover, Flournoy and Alcott expressed their discontent with PEN America’s “reluctance to take a stand against the genocide in Palestine, and particularly the targeting of writers, journalists and artists.”

Hence, the recent protest and the discourse it has sparked challenge PEN America’s position on free speech, protest rights, and its role within the broader literary and political landscape.