Nobel laureate says he previously considered himself a supporter of Israel, but ‘the campaign of annihilation in Gaza has changed all that’
Nobel laureate JM Coetzee has declined to attend an upcoming literature festival in Israel, writing a excoriating letter to organisers citing the country’s “genocidal campaign” in Gaza, stating: “It will take many years for Israel to clear its name”.
The 86-year-old author, who was born in apartheid South Africa and lives in Australia, wrote to organisers of the Jerusalem international writers festival in November.
While the contents of Coetzee’s letter were described by the festival’s artistic director, Julia Fermentto-Tzaisler, to Israeli press in April, the Guardian has received Coetzee’s correspondence directly.
In reply to Fermentto-Tzaisler’s invitation to Jerusalem international writers festival, which takes place 25 to 28 May, Coetzee declined but added, “I wish to state the grounds on which I do so.”
