Writer Elizabeth Gilbert faces backlash over book with plot in Russia

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
14 Jun 2023 15:41

Elizabeth Gilbert decides to postpone book publication after "The Snow Forest" receives backlash for being set in Russia, a decision which brings forth a different kind of backlash.

Author Elizabeth Gilbert attends the world premiere of 'Eat Pray Love' at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2010, in New York. (AP)

Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the renowned book "Eat, Pray, Love", announced on Monday that she will postpone the release of her new novel, "The Snow Forest", because she received heavy backlash given that the book's events are set in Siberia, Russia.

Ukrainians took issue with the book's setting which drove Gilbert to announce in a video that she will be "making a course correction" and "removing the book from its publication schedule. It is not the time for this book to be published."

Important announcement about THE SNOW FOREST. Please note that if you were charged for your pre-order, you will be fully refunded. Thank you so much. pic.twitter.com/OAEmrjtfJx
— Elizabeth Gilbert (@GilbertLiz) June 12, 2023

According to Gilbert, the book tells the story of a "group of individuals who made a decision to remove themselves from society to resist the Soviet government and to try to defend nature against industrialization."

Ukrainian readers, according to Gilbert voiced "anger, sorrow, disappointment and pain" over the book's setting given that it will also be released while the war in Ukraine remained ongoing.

In contrast, literary non-profit PEN America criticized Gilbert's decision to push back the publication's release date as the book is expected to undergo certain changes.

PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said "Ukrainians have suffered immeasurably, and Gilbert's decision in the face of online outcry from her Ukrainian readers is well-intended," adding "But the idea that, in wartime, creativity and artistic expression should be preemptively shut down to avoid somehow compounding harms caused by military aggression is wrongheaded."

In turn, Pulitzer Prize finalist Rebecca Makkai also criticized Gilbert's decision saying:

"So apparently: Wherever you set your novel, you'd better hope to hell that by publication date (usually about a year after you turned it in) that place isn't up to bad things, or you are personally complicit in them," she wrote on Twitter.