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Nobel Prize-winning author J. M. Coetzee has declined an invitation to attend a literary festival in Israel, citing the “disproportionate genocide” carried out by Israel in Gaza, according to reports.
The decision concerns the 14th International Writers’ Festival, scheduled to take place between May 25–28 at the Mishkenot Sha’ananim cultural center in occupied East Jerusalem. Festival Director Julia Fermentto-Tzaisler said Coetzee had been invited but turned down the offer in strong terms.
In his message, Coetzee stated that since October 2023, Israel had been carrying out what he described as “a disproportionate genocide” in the Gaza Strip, adding that these actions were being met with “enthusiastic support” from a majority of the Israeli public.
The author also argued that no segment of Israeli society, including the intellectual and artistic communities, could claim to be free from complicity in what he called the “crime of brutality” in Gaza. He concluded that any attempt by Israel to restore its international standing would take many years.
While Coetzee declined, several international authors confirmed they would attend the festival. These include Italian writer Erri De Luca, American novelist Nell Zink, and thriller writer Joseph Finder.
Some other participants listed are U.S.-based author Dara Horn, historian Steven J. Zipperstein, writer Benjamin Resnick, Argentine writer Marcelo Birmajer, and sociologist Eva Illouz.
Now 86, Coetzee is widely regarded as one of the most influential contemporary writers. He has won the Booker Prize twice, in 1983 and 1999, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003, one of the highest honors in global literature.
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