IMHO Writers should not engage in censorship. Nor should they launch bad faith character assassination campaigns against their fellow writers. The editors and staff at #Guernica magazine have done both, and as far as I'm concerned they have nothing further to add to any conversation. #Literature #Publishing #JoannaChen #JinaMoore #CeasefireNow https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/12/guernica-israel-hamas-retraction/
Guernica doubles down on retraction of essay on Israel-Gaza war

What was the rationale behind the removal of a factual and compelling essay on the Israel-Gaza war from a respected magazine?

The Washington Post
Guernica editor who published Israeli writer’s coexistence essay resigns, saying she disagreed with retraction

“The magazine stands by its retraction of the work; I do not,” Jina Moore wrote in a blog post a month after Joanna Chen’s essay first appeared.

The Forward
"After hours of interrogation in prison, it became clear what they really wanted. (My wife) is the daughter of a Hamas official and they couldn’t accept that she was reaching out to Israelis. I was being pressured to divorce her. At first, I said no. I had no idea where she was or what was happening to her. Eventually I understood she was in prison but would be released if I divorced her. I signed the papers." #CeasefireNow #RamiAman #JoannaChen https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/interviews/voice-across-broken-bridge-talking-rami-aman/
A Voice Across a Broken Bridge: Talking with Rami Aman - BLARB

Joanna Chen talks with Palestinian journalist and peace activist Rami Aman about his experiences during the recent escalation of conflict in the region.

BLARB
#JinaMooreNgarambe was the editor of #Guernica magazine. She "resigned" today after publishing this essay by #JoannaChen. The essay was retracted by Guernica and re-published in #WashingtonMonthly. IMHO It's well worth reading. #Literature #Publishing #Palestine #CeasefireNow https://washingtonmonthly.com/2024/03/18/from-the-edges-of-a-broken-world/
From the Edges of a Broken World

The article Guernica retracted, and the translator who tried to tread the line of empathy

Washington Monthly
“As a translator, I know there are several ways to say the same thing, and every way will highlight or showcase a different facet of the narrative. It depends on the context, it depends on the underground life of words and phrases.” #JoannaChen #NewRepublic #Literature #Politics #Guernica #CeasefireNow
https://newrepublic.com/article/180083/joanna-chen-guernica-essay-israel-interview
“The Heart Is Capable of Grieving for Two Peoples at Once”

A Q&A with Joanna Chen about her “Guernica” essay on Israel and Palestine, its baffling retraction, and her plans to write a new essay about the experience

The New Republic
We need allies. This is no time to be expelling those we perceive to be heretical. We're not the f***ing Politburo. Are we? #Guernica #JoannaChen #StandingTogether #CeasefireNow https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/19/to-build-an-effective-movement-for-palestine-we-need-every-ally
To build an effective movement for Palestine we need every ally

What the parallel spats over a Guernica magazine essay retraction and the boycott of Standing Together teach us about how to build a movement

The Guardian
ICYMI Earlier this month #Guernica magazine (“one of the most prestigious literary publications in the United States”) quietly published, then loudly retracted, this piece by #JoannaChen. Seems the editors enjoy crawling up their own rear ends or something like that. Anyhoo, #WashingtonMonthly picked it up and IMHO it's worth a read. Keep hope alive, y'all. #CeasefireNow https://washingtonmonthly.com/2024/03/18/from-the-edges-of-a-broken-world/
From the Edges of a Broken World

The article Guernica retracted, and the translator who tried to tread the line of empathy

Washington Monthly
“#Guernica’s cringeworthy backpedaling is redolent of the self-denunciations of Stalin’s purge victims or the coerced linguistic self-flagellations of academics during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. There’s no effort at genuine debate, no room for competing opinions, no space for historical nuance or complexity; there’s simply a demand that the party line be followed and that those who don’t be immediately censored.” #Literature #JoannaChen #SashaAbramsky cc: @thenation https://www.thenation.com/article/society/guernica-resignations/
The Cringeworthy Hypocrisy of “Guernica”

Mass resignations at the literary magazine following the publication of a piece by an Israeli peace activist reveal a part of the left that cannot countenance historical nuance.

The Nation

From the Edges of a Broken World – Guernica

https://www.guernicamag.com/from-the-edges-of-a-broken-world/

At the foot of a page now largely blank because Guernica editorial staff do not want you to read an Israeli writer's essay, the magazine asks for money if "you value Guernica’s role in this era of obfuscation".

Have these people no sense of the ridiculous?

#IsraelPalestine #USJournalism #USCulture #Guernica #JoannaChen

From the Edges of a Broken World

Guernica regrets having published this piece, and has retracted it. A more fulsome explanation will follow.

Guernica
"I discovered Hebrew words I had never come across before. What is the difference between one variety of fig and another? In Hebrew, the words are meticulous: the verb le’erot, for example, which refers to the act of plucking figs from a tree, is grounded in the word for light, orr, since figs must be picked as early in the day as possible." #MeirShalev #JoannaChen #Literature #Poetry #Hebrew #Hebrew https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/translation-and-the-terebinth/
Translation and the Terebinth: On Translating Meir Shalev | Los Angeles Review of Books

Joanna Chen writes about the pleasures of translating work by the late Israeli writer Meir Shalev....

Los Angeles Review of Books