Elham Asaad Buaras
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Nilanjana Sudeshna “Jhumpa” Lahiri made headlines earlier last month by refusing to accept an award from New York’s Noguchi Museum. Her decision comes in protest of the museum’s recent firing of three employees who wore keffiyehs, a symbol of Palestinian solidarity and resistance.
Founded nearly 40 years ago by Japanese American designer and sculptor Isamu Noguchi, the museum has presented the Isamu Noguchi Award annually since its inception in 2014. However, it gained notoriety in August for implementing a dress code banning employees from wearing clothing or accessories that express “political messages, slogans, or symbols” during work hours. This policy led to the dismissal of three staff members who donned keffiyehs to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, as reported by The New York Times.
Lahiri’s decision to decline the award was announced following the museum’s statement on September 25: “Jhumpa Lahiri has chosen to withdraw her acceptance of the 2024 Isamu Noguchi Award in response to our updated dress code policy.”
Born in 1967 in London to Indian immigrant parents, Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2000 for her debut collection, “Interpreter of Maladies.” Since then, she has published numerous works of fiction and nonfiction in English and Italian. In addition to her literary accomplishments, she serves as the director of the creative writing programme at Barnard College in New York.
Lahiri is also among the thousands of scholars who signed a letter to university presidents in May, expressing solidarity with campus protests against Israel’s military actions in Gaza, which she described as “unspeakable destruction.”
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