In 2019, British-Pakistani writer Kamila Shamsie took a stand against Israel by stating that she was a supporter of the BDS or Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement for which she was stripped of a literary prize. Following Shamsie, Sally Rooney, the author of Normal People, has also took and stand against Israel, and refused to work with Israeli publications.
Rooney declined to have translations of her latest work published in Hebrew. The Irish writer turned down an Israeli publisher for the publication of her latest novel.
In response to Rooney’s news, Shamsie tweeted that this decision was not an indictment of the Hebrew language, but was about a boycott of the Israeli state.
It is pertinent to note that earlier, Kamila Shamsie’s books were published in Israel, but ever since the Israel-Palestine conflict surfaced, she declined to work with Israeli publishers in future.