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/

“The magazine stands by its retraction of the work; I do not.” #JinaMoore #JoannaChen #Guernica #Literature #Writing #CeasefireNow cc: @theforward https://forward.com/fast-forward/600601/guernica-editor-who-published-israeli-writers-coexistence-essay-resigns-saying-she-disagreed-with-retraction/

"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/

#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 The essay was retracted by Guernica and re-published in #WashingtonMonthly.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/

“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

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

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/

“#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/

"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/