Author Elizabeth Gilbert said she received a torrent of criticism from Ukrainian readers due to a novel being set in Siberia
American Author Elizabeth Gilbert speaks during Jaipur Literature Festival at Diggi Palace in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, Jan 25,2020 © Getty Images / Vishal Bhatnagar/NurPhoto via Getty Images
English publisher Arabella Pike has slammed the withdrawal from publication of a novel by American author Elizabeth Gilbert, which is set in 1930s Soviet Russia, after it received a litany of online complaints from Ukrainian commenters.
Gilbert’s novel ‘The Snow Forest’ is set in 20th-century Siberia and was due to be released in February 2024 by the publisher Penguin Random House. However, in an Instagram video last week, the author said that she has “received an enormous, massive outpouring of reactions and responses from my Ukrainian readers.”
The backlash, she said, convinced her that “it is not the time for this book to be published” – and especially one “that is set in Russia.”
However, writing in an op-ed in The Sunday Times, English publisher Arabella Pike was highly critical of Gilbert’s move to suspend publication in the face of public scrutiny, writing that it amounts to little more than self-censorship.
“Gilbert’s right to choose whether or when to publish her own work must be respected,” Pike writes. “But her decision seems a drastic overreaction – a confusion of sentimentality with a political stance.” Pike adds that Gilbert’s move sets a “worrying precedent” that could embolden opponents of free speech.
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“Not a single Ukrainian will be helped by her decision to withdraw the novel,” said Pike. “That it was Gilbert herself who withdrew the book does not stop this from being censorship.”
Pike also writes that Gilbert finds herself in something of a privileged position due to the financial success of a prior novel, ‘Eat, Pray, Love,’ meaning that she is not financially dependent on the publication of her latest novel.
“Others,” Pike points out, “are not so fortunate.”
Pike, the publishing director at William Collins Books, also writes that she has spent much of the past three years fending off legal attacks from prominent Russian figures who objected to their portrayal in Catherine Belton’s book ‘Putin’s People.’
As such, Pike says she regards Gilbert’s decision to withdraw ‘The Snow Forest’ from publication as “something of a body blow” following her sustained support for an author’s right to publish regardless of third-party backlash.
‘The Snow Forest’ tells the story of a fictional Russian family that moves to Siberia in the 1930s to escape rising industrialization. Gilbert has indicated that anyone who pre-ordered the book will be refunded. It is unclear if she intends to release the book.
