Choose your fighter The first letter, signed by Percival Everett, Sally Rooney, Kaveh Akbar, Rachel Kushner, Jhumpa Lahiri, Justin Torres, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Annie Ernaux, along with more than 2,700 other people, calls for a boycott of Israeli cultural institutions, including publishers, literary agents and literary festivals. That letter prompted criticism from the organization Creative Community for Peace, a group representing members of the literary and entertainment world that opposes the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. “We believe that writers, authors, and books — along with the festivals that showcase them — bring people together, transcend boundaries, broaden awareness, open dialogue, and can affect positive change,” the letter states. “Regardless of one’s views on the current conflict, boycotts of creatives and creative institutions simply create more divisiveness and foment further hatred.” Authors who signed the statement include Lee Child, Howard Jacobson, Lionel Shriver, Simon Schama, Adam Gopnik, Herta Müller, David Mamet and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. It’s unclear what the impact of the recent calls for a boycott of Israeli institutions will be, and how many of the authors who signed the letter will refuse to sell rights to their books to publishers in Israel. Some, including the novelist Sally Rooney, have taken that step.