Author Gabrielle Zevin speaks about her bestseller “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” during the 28th Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at the University of Southern California on Saturday, April 22, 2023 in Los Angeles. (Dania Maxwell \/ Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But for months Zevin, an author of Jewish and Korean descent with nine other books under her belt, has been grabbing headlines for an unrelated reason: accusations from pro-Palestinian corners of the literary world that she is a \u201cZionist\u201d and therefore, that her works are worthy of boycott.<\/p>\n
Zevin has never publicized any of her views on Israel. But she has become an unlikely poster figure for the culture wars around Israel that have permeated arts and culture spaces, particularly the literary world, since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. The latest flare-up occurred over the weekend, when a manager at a Chicago bookstore, City Lit, told book club members that they could no longer vote to read Zevin\u2019s book owing to her perceived Zionism.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was brought to my attention that the author Gabrielle Zevin is a Zionist, and I am not comfortable having us reading something by her, especially knowing people would buy it from the store and she would receive monetary support from us,\u201d the assistant manager wrote in the email. He continued, \u201cIf you want to read it, I\u2019d encourage you to get it from the library and read it critically!\u201d<\/p>\n
Zevin, 46, grew up in Florida with her Korean mother and Jewish father before heading to Harvard University. She published her first novels in 2005 and has had a steady output since, but \u201cTomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow\u201d has been far and away her most successful work. The book\u2019s two protagonists, Sam and Sadie, are both of Jewish descent, a detail Zevin has said is autobiographical; she told the Harvard Crimson in 2022, \u201cI am, like Sam in the book, half Jewish and half Korean.\u201d While promoting a 2014 book, she wrote, \u201cI\u2019m the product of no religion to speak of except, if this isn\u2019t too pretentious to write, the religion of books.\u201d<\/p>\n
Readers, generally from the left, who claim Zevin is a Zionist point as evidence to one instance of her appearing at a February 2023 event hosted by the Zionist women\u2019s organization Hadassah (a group that makes a brief appearance in the novel).<\/p>\n
Hadassah Magazine\u2019s executive editor Lisa Hostein denounced City Lit\u2019s move as antisemitic on social media, where she confirmed that even Hadassah doesn\u2019t know Zevin\u2019s stance on Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know whether Gabrielle Zevin considers herself a Zionist or not,\u201d Hostein tweeted on Monday, adding that Hadassah had selected \u201cTomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow\u201d for its own national book club and that, when the magazine spoke to her, \u201cZevin spoke proudly about her dual Jewish-Korean heritage, themes that she included in her writing for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hostein added, \u201cI also know that boycotting a Jewish author for appearing before the largest Jewish women\u2019s organization in the country is antisemitism, pure and simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some also note that \u201cTomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow\u201d features an Israeli character, though the novel only references Israel tangentially and the character is widely seen as unlikeable. \u201cGabrielle Zevin included Israeli sympathy into her books,\u201d one pro-Palestinian proponent of boycotting \u201cknown Zionist authors\u201d wrote on X.<\/p>\n
Before the current flap, Zevin was among dozens of authors who appeared on a recent viral online list titled \u201cIs your fav author a Zionist???\u201d \u2014 with boycotts recommended against authors for whom the answer was yes, such as Zevin.<\/p>\n
The list was condemned by the Jewish Book Council, whose president compared it to Nazi-era book burnings, and several authors on it expressed their concern that it would make them fall victim to antisemitic targeting. In response to such incidents, the Jewish Book Council has launched an initiative for authors to report any antisemitism they experience in the literary world.<\/p>\n
Zevin was also the subject of social media targeting in December when a fantasy subscription service, FairyLoot, defended its decision to promote a special edition of her book over online backlash owing to her perceived Zionism.<\/p>\n
Fairyloot rejected the accusation of Zionism as \u201ccompletely unfounded.\u201d In contrast, City Lit did not address its manager\u2019s assumption that Zevin was a Zionist when it posted a statement Monday to social media apologizing for removing \u201cTomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow\u201d from the book club poll.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe moderator removed the book from the poll hoping to maintain in [sic] what they believed a safe and comfortable space for the group,\u201d the bookstore said. \u201cA better course of action would\u2019ve been to allow the group to discuss and vote on this decision. For that we apologize.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lengthy statement did not apologize to Zevin. The store said her name came up after \u201cseveral members\u201d of the book club \u201cprivately reached out to the moderator to express their discomfort with the title.\u201d The statement went on to reject accusations that removing the book as an option constituted either antisemitism or censorship.<\/p>\n
Still, the store appeared to apologize to the Jewish community. \u201cWe will continue to welcome and host Jewish authors in our space,\u201d it said. \u201cWe understand that due to current political events Jewish people have been victims of unfair scrutiny and we sincerely apologize to all of those who have been subjected to that response.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calls to City Lit on Tuesday were not answered.<\/p>\n
Zevin, who just wrapped a nationwide tour promoting the book\u2019s paperback release, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment through her agent.<\/p>\n
She has never made any public statements about Israel and doesn\u2019t address the topic in her live appearances. The closest she has skirted may have come during a June radio interview, when she was asked how she thought it would affect first-time readers that the paperback was emerging at a time \u201cwhere we have lots of major international conflicts going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zevin responded by talking about her characters, not readers. \u201cI think the worlds that my characters find themselves in in the book is the world,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has all of the things in it, not necessarily the particularity of 2024, you know, but it doesn\u2019t exist in a world that doesn\u2019t have conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the author back in the spotlight this week, Jewish and non-Jewish critics of the Palestinian boycott movement alike were quick to condemn City Lit. New York Democratic Rep. Richie Torres, a prominent pro-Israel voice in Congress and on social media, was among those to condemn the bookstore.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince most Jews are Zionists, the ban is tantamount to putting up a sign that reads: \u2018No Jews Allowed,\u2019\u201d Torres tweeted. \u201cAnyone who adopts a policy that excludes most Jews is guilty of institutionalizing antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edward Einhorn, a New York theater director, tweeted, \u201cGabrielle Zevin\u2019s offenses seem to be: she had an Israeli character in a book, she spoke at Hadassah, and she\u2019s Jewish. This sort of antisemitic McCarthyism is truly awful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pro-Palestinian backlash does not appear to be hurting Zevin. In addition to her spot on the New York Times list, an upcoming film adaptation of the novel \u2014 which has sold nearly 3 million copies worldwide \u2014 is slated to be directed by Sian Heder, the Oscar-winning writer and director of \u201cCODA.\u201d<\/p>\n
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