Alyssa Rosenheck’s book, White. Blonde. Jew., was written in response to the growing campaign to marginalize, boycott, and silence Jewish and Israeli voices in the literary world. Her book event was cancelled in Nashville and she’s become the latest victim of that very phenomenon.
Over the past several years, planned bookstore appearances by Jewish authors have been canceled, ads for books about Israel have been rejected, book readings have been shut down, literary organizations have been targeted, and activists have circulated blacklists of so-called “Zionist” authors for harassment.
Just last month, PEN America’s President resigned because the organization simply documented the experiences of Jewish and Israeli writers. This reveals just how difficult it has become for even free expression organizations to acknowledge antisemitism within the literary community.
Alyssa Rosenheck wrote White. Blonde. Jew. to shine a light on this growing intolerance. The decision to cancel her event only proves how necessary her voice—and this conversation—have become.