Junot Díaz, Lorrie Moore, Joyce Carol Oates, Eric Bogosian and Michael Cunningham are among the 145 writers listed as signatories on a letter protesting PEN American Center’s decision to award its “freedom of expression courage” award to the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, because the award seems to endorse drawings of the prophet Muhammad and other images that “must be seen as being intended to cause further humiliation and suffering” among France’s embattled Muslims.
“It is clear and inarguable that the murder of a dozen people in the Charlie Hebdo offices is sickening and tragic,” the letter states, referring to the attack by Islamic extremists in Paris in January. “What is neither clear nor inarguable is the decision to confer an award for courageous freedom of expression on Charlie Hebdo or what criteria exactly were used to make that decision.”
By honoring Charlie Hebdo, the letter said, “PEN is not simply conveying support for freedom of expression but also valorizing selectively offensive material: material that intensifies the anti-Islamic, anti-Maghreb, anti-Arab sentiments already prevalent in the Western world.”
The letter’s signatories include the six writers who made the decision to withdraw as table hosts at PEN’s gala, where the award will be given on Tuesday. Their withdrawal has led to intensely polarized discussion in literary circles and on social media, with some criticizing what they see as willful distortion of the protestors’ motivations while others argue that the protestors misunderstand the nature and scope of Charlie Hebdo’s satire.
The novelist Teju Cole, one of the hosts who withdrew, said via email that the letter was still gathering signatures and would eventually be presented to PEN, but Mr. Cole declined to comment further.
PEN, in a statement posted on its website earlier this week, reiterated its position that the intent of Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons “was not to ostracize or insult Muslims but rather to reject forcefully the efforts of a small minority of radical extremists to place broad categories of speech off limits.”
In a statement on Thursday, it said that it had heard from a number of its 4,000 members who wanted to draft a letter in support of the award but did not “see value in a roll-call that pushes people to take a position that may not fully reflect the subtleties of their view.”
Instead, the group said, it had set up an open online discussion forum. “Everyone in PEN is committed to free expression,” the statement continued. “Debate over its meaning and how to reconcile it with other important values is vital.”