No silencing of Jewish writing here: PEN America gets it wrong
JVL Introduction
The usually rigorous PEN America allowed itself to be used by Israel’s defenders to publish and promote a report that invented a threat to Jewish and Israeli authors in the American publishing industry, alleging the “rising isolation and exclusion” of Jewish and Israeli writers in American publishing
PEN has a well deserved reputation for identifying the silencing of critical voices. Two academic experts in the the study of the American publishing industry, Jewish writing and bibliographics read the report and found it contradicted their detailed knowledge of the field. So they did what any honest researcher does: they examined the data and methodology behind the report to find out whether their preconceptions were mistaken or whether the report was flawed.
What they found was shocking. There was neither robust data, declared methodology nor citations of relevant research. It was a biased ideological tract and PEN America had become a partner in the genocide-washing industry.
This article was originally published by Jewish Currents on Thu 1 Oct 2026. Read the original here.
What PEN America Got Wrong About Antisemitism in Publishing
Misleading anecdotes, flawed data, and oversimplified analyses are at the heart of a narrative of Jewish exclusion promoted by the free expression organization, the ADL, and others.
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Wow….Harris Agency appears to have very diverse writers they represent.
Also depending on the scale of the agency…small, boutique’ medium or corporate doesnt it depend on how many publishing deals you can manage per year?.
No doubt the assimilation of individuals where now anything can be construed as antisemitism so they decry it at any available opportunity.
Shame on PEN for this and kicking its proverbial antisemitic can all over the place.🤭