Overview
- Mengestu resigned after PEN published its July 9 report, “A Silent Moratorium,” saying the piece and the group’s handling of boycott issues failed to defend boycott advocates and diminished Palestinian experiences.
- PEN has named Tracy Higgins interim president and defended the report as documenting more than 30 interviews in which Israeli and Jewish writers described reputational harm, lost opportunities, self-censorship, and event cancellations.
- The organization revised its guidance to say it will oppose institutional cultural and academic boycotts while also defending individual writers’ rights to participate in or advocate for boycotts.
- Reactions split across the literary world with Writers Against the War on Gaza praising Mengestu, groups like the Anti-Defamation League criticizing his move, and authors publicly divided over whether the report aids anti-BDS efforts.
- The dispute deepens a longer-running leadership crisis at PEN that dates to 2024 and could have legal and political ripple effects by feeding debates over anti-BDS measures and how cultural institutions weigh free expression against political advocacy.