Letter about the decision of the Los Angeles Public Library to rescind invitations to two authors and effectively cancel Read Palestine Week

Karen Bass

Mayor of the City of Los Angeles

 

Board of Library Commissioners

Los Angeles Public Library

 

Dear Mayor Bass, Board President Mayra Valadez, Board Vice President Linda Blank and Commissioners Valerie Lynne Shaw, Kelly Besser and Fabian R. Wesson: 

 

We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our dismay concerning the Los Angeles Public Library’s decision to cancel an event featuring the writers Jenan Matari and Nora Lester Murad that was slated for the library’s 2025 Read Palestine Week, scheduled for 29 November-5 December 2025. The cancellation of this event constitutes a violation of the library’s obligation to remain nonpartisan and betrays the library’s responsibility to uphold the First Amendment of the US Constitution.    

 

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the prestigious International Journal of Middle East Studies and has nearly 2,800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and outside of North America.

 

In October 2025, the Los Angeles Public Library invited authors Janan Matari and Nora Lester Murad to participate in an event featuring their respective books as part of Read Palestine Week, whose intent is to feature and highlight Palestinian voices. Matari is the author of the children’s book Everything Grows in Jiddo’s Garden; Murad is the author of the young adult book Ida in the Middle. Both books tell the stories of young Palestinian protagonists. Matari and Murad agreed to participate in the event and submitted the necessary paperwork in a timely fashion. Library staff encouraged them to promote the event on social media and distributed official promotional materials to them. 

 

Days before the event was scheduled to occur, it was cancelled. A message which John Szabo, City Librarian of Los Angeles, sent to his staff stated that the reason for its cancellation was Matari’s social media posts concerning the events of 7 October 2023; he alleged that they violated the “library’s responsibility to remain nonpartisan and apolitical” and asserted that “all library programs must align with our core values, including welcoming everyone and affirming that allpeople have dignity and deserve respect.” We note that the library’s decision to cancel the event based on Matari’s social media posts is deeply inconsistent with its sponsorship of a wide array of guests who have made explicit public political statements. 

 

The Los Angeles Public Library’s decision to rescind its invitations to Matari and Murad represents a clear violation of its obligation to respect these authors’ freedom of speech and the right of library patrons to hear them, and to protect the vibrant realm of uncensored political debate that free speech rights support. We note that the Los Angeles Public Library has adopted the provisions of the American Library Association’s Bill of Rights, which states that “Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.” The library has clearly not lived up to its avowed commitments.

 

The library’s decision to cancel this event – and not others – because of political speech on the part of an invited guest is also a clear violation of the library’s obligation to remain nonpartisan. Furthermore, City Librarian Szabo’s argument that there is a distinction between adding a book to the collection and sponsoring programming is specious when it concerns a public institution. The library is obligated to remain nonpartisan and broadly supportive of First Amendment rights in all its activities. Finally, the cancellation of this event amounted to the cancellation of Read Palestine Week for 2025: no other events concerning Palestine or featuring Palestinian voices were listed on the public calendar, nor were there other events featuring Islam or Muslim culture. In 2025, the library sponsored only one event on Arab culture, scheduled for Arab American Heritage Month.

 

In these fraught times, public leaders have a heightened responsibility to protect free speech and academic freedom. We urge you to live up to that responsibility. We therefore call on the Los Angeles Public Library to immediately reschedule the event featuring Jenan Matari and Nora Lester Murad and to refrain from any further action that threatens or violates the library’s responsibilities as a nonpartisan public institution. 

 

 

We look forward to your response.

 

Sincerely,

 

Ussama Makdisi

MESA President

Professor, University of California, Berkeley 

 

Judith E. Tucker
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, Georgetown University