Jewish writers are getting blacklisted and worry about their publishing futures

‘Is your fav author a zionist?????” amina (@moyurireads) tweeted earlier this month, linking a Google spreadsheet of authors of Jewish descent and color-coding some 200 authors by their level of “Zionism,” from the mostly blue “Pro-Palestinian/Anti-Zionist” to the Red “Pro-Israel Zionist” authors, with in-between authors represented by orange (“Both Sides-ing”) and green (“It’s complicated”). 

Ironically, “yellow” – once the color of the stars Nazi Germany had Jews wear – denoted “No Mention of anything/no evidence.”

Jewish authors worry about their futures

The list – seen by half a million people – is the latest salvo in the literary world, which is overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian, leaving many Jewish authors feeling shut out of publishing, worried about getting book contracts, attending literary events, or having their books review-bombed negatively on Goodreads – all for either having Jewish characters or Israel in their books, expressing support for Israel, or simply being Jewish.

Last month, PEN America canceled its prestigious 2024 literary awards after 28 authors withdrew their books because they protested the organization’s (“insufficient”) response to the war on Gaza. Some authors, like Stranger Things’ Brett Gelman, have found their events canceled because of their pro-Israel stances. 

In March, a prominent unnamed London literary agent said, “Literary London is now a no-go zone for Jews,” author Stephen Games told the Daily Telegraph. “He said there is no point putting proposals up to commissioning editors, as they just are not interested.”

American literary agent Laura Zats echoed this sentiment, saying that her Jewish-owned agency “@HeadwaterLit has always been and will always be anti-Zionist. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

As an author and journalist, I support free speech: What is the point of the literary world if it is not open to protest and criticism?

The blacklist founder was quick to point out to me on Twitter (before she blocked me) that the list wasn’t “anti-Jewish” per se, just anti-Zionist, noting that there are many Jewish authors on the list against the war in Gaza.

Yet “having an Israeli publisher” is enough to land novelists like Emily Henry (Beach Read, Happy Place) and Holly Jackson (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder) on the list, or to land Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook) there because he “posted a pray for Israel graphic in the aftermath of oct 7.”

Bestsellers in red include Taylor Jenkins Reid (Daisy Jones & the Six) for mentioning Israel without Gaza, or Mitch Albom (Tuesdays with Morrie) because he “blog posts about how israel has the right to defend itself.”This is not free speech. It’s blacklisting.

“You’re making a list. Think about it if you’re capable. At least you’re out in the open about it,” Robert Novak tweeted, saying what many Jews are thinking, that the Holocaust began with list-making (as did the McCarthy blacklist).

“This list can easily be weaponized to harass people, ESPECIALLY Jewish ones. I’d wager you would never dare make a list of Palestinian Hamas-supporting celebrities,” La Bibliotecaria tweeted.

“This is horrific,” said one of the authors on the list marked in red, who was afraid to give their name because they were afraid of more online hate. “It’s demoralizing. It’s open hate that’s been given carte blanche – just imagine if you substituted any minority group for ‘Zionists.’” The author said they were all for free speech, but this is “hate speech” that people should fight.

The blacklist said that if an author is “Zionist,” “it’s suggested you do not give them any money (purchasing their books, streaming their shows/movies) or promote their work on any social platforms.”

“WHAT’S THE big deal?” you might ask, considering what is going on in the world. Does this little slice of the literary world even matter?It does.

The anti-Israel sentiment in the literary world could have a searing effect on Jewish literature.

“I worry that Jewish voices won’t be heard and our stories won’t be heard. That would be a massive shame. Jewish thinkers, creators, and innovators have been at the forefront of so much of our culture and society. What comes next? No Jewish artists? No Jewish doctors? Where does it stop?” 

said one Jewish person who works in publishing but did not want to talk about the blacklist for fear of promoting it.

No matter what an author feels about Gaza, Kathleen Schmidt, president of KMSPR, a strategy, marketing, PR, and branding firm focusing on authors, publishers, and publishing, wrote on her Substack that the act of calling out and boycotting Jewish authors is antisemitic. “If you don’t believe in book bans, you shouldn’t be okay with boycotting authors for being Jewish. What troubles me the most about this is the silence from publishers, who should try to ensure authors on the list know they have support.”

Forget that the list is ridiculous – one author was marked a Zionist for speaking at a Hadassah event, another for being published by a subsidiary of the “too Jewish” Disney – the silence of the publishing world is more so. Maybe they are hoping the war will be over, antisemitism will abate, and that lists like these – like campus protests packing up their tents for the summer – will disappear.

But Jewish authors are still feeling unsafe. Some are losing out on European contracts for American books that mention Jewish themes. Others are scrubbing their books of Jewish characters (“It’s not worth it,” one author told me), and many are going silent on social media, afraid.

These litmus tests must stop. These literary fatwas are fatuous. They are endangering that which the literary world is supposed to hold most dear: the free exchange of ideas.

If this climate had been in effect a century ago, would we have seen works by Philip Roth or Bernard Malamud? Or if it had been in effect more recently, would we have seen books by Jonathan Safran Foer, Nicole Krauss, Anita Diamant, or Tova Mirvis?

In a literary world allegedly dedicated to free speech, what great works of literature will be lost with this censorship? What stories will not be told?