An American writer refused to accept an award from a museum that banned Palestinian symbols
Pulitzer Prize-winning Bengali-American author Jhumpa Lahiri declined to accept the Noguchi Museum Award in New York. The reason for this was that the management of the museum had previously fired three employees who wore black and white headscarves in solidarity with Palestine, Reuters reports.
“Jhumpa Lahiri declined the 2024 Isamu Noguchi Award in response to our dress code. We respect his opinion and understand that our policy may or may not correspond to someone's views," the museum administration explained.
Jhumpa Lahiri gained international fame after winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for his book The Interpreter of Diseases.
Lahiri's prose has been translated into Bengali, German, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Polish, Bulgarian and Russian.
In 2015, he was awarded the National Order of Humanity by US President Barack Obama.
Last year, the New York museum, founded by Japanese sculptor Isamu Noguchi, banned staff from wearing any signs of political affiliation.
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