Writers boycott SLV over workshop cancellations

Writers Michelle de Kretser, Tony Birch and Grace Yee are refusing to work with State Library Victoria (SLV) over its decision to cancel the library’s Teen Bootcamp workshops, reports the Age.

In March, the SLV told writers Omar Sakr, Jinghua Qian, Alison Evans and Ariel Ries, who were to lead the workshops, their services were terminated due to concerns over ‘child and cultural safety’. The four writers have each been vocal in their support for Palestinian people since Israel’s 2023 invasion of Gaza.

According to the Age, Birch has declined any further work with the library and de Kretser has turned down a writing commission from the library.  Yee told Books+Publishing: ‘I withdrew from an event about artists/writers-in-residence, which was designed to promote the SLV’s fellowship program.’ An SLV spokesperson said: ‘We are disappointed to hear that Michelle de Krester and Tony Birch are not wanting to work for or with the Library at the moment, based on their understanding around the postponement of the Teen Writing Bootcamp program’.

Last month, more than 100 SLV staff wrote to SLV CEO Paul Duldig expressing anger at the postponement of the workshops, while a public letter from the writers scheduled to present at the cancelled Bootcamp workshops, with nearly 1000 signatories, was sent to the library’s management, asking to be reinstated and for clarity around what transpired.

Category: Local news