I Watched a Bit of the National Book Awards

Every morning, I use random.org to pick a CSPAN video to watch.  (well, really mostly just listen to)

I don't force myself to watch the whole video.  I can watch as little or as much as I want.

Today I ended up with the National Book Awards ceremony.  

This is actually the second time I landed on this video.  

Because I had read about some antisemitism issues with the National Book Awards, the first time Random.org chose it for me, I could stomach listening to only a little bit.  

I moved the curser of the video somewhat randomly and ended up listening to the youth book awards.

A Syrian woman won and said many things in support of the Muslim experience; talked about Islamaphobia, and declared Free Palestine.

She and I are not on the same team in terms of the Middle East war.  I don't like what she said.  But I believe she has every right to say it.  I support people using their platforms to speak about the issues important to them.

What I wondered, though, is whether that same stage will ever be filled by a Jew and/or Israeli who has written a book about the suffering that occurred on October 7 or what Jewish students have endured on campuses and classrooms.  

Will books like that ever be even nominated?

Will they even be published...I mean by mainstream publishers?  Or will publishers, agents, editors, etc. fear the backlash too much?  Will they fear accusations of Islamaphobia?

On that note, if anyone does know of books being written or published about the Jewish/Israeli/Zionist lived experience regarding October 7 and the time following, please comment below.  I will (probably) add them to my to-read list.


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