Author Helen DeWitt had the social media platform X abuzz after posting that she turned down a $175,000 Windham-Campbell Prize.

DeWitt, best known for her 2000 novel, The Last Samurai, posted a thread on X that began with a statement reading, “Now that the Windham-Campbell Prizes have been announced I can talk about my failure to make the grade back in February, when I was told I had won a prize for fiction. Initially thrilled, then learned the prize was contingent on forms of promotion I was simply unable to provide.”

DeWitt went on to explain that Michael Kelleher, director of the prizes, had told her in order to receive the award, she had to meet a set of requirements: “attendance at festival at Yale in Sept, podcast, contrib to Yale Review, &, crucially, IMMEDIATE audio interview and video in time for April 8, after which availability for press might be needed.”

She said that she had difficulty with Wi-Fi in Amsterdam, where she was staying, and that her phone was running low on data. “When the mind cracks up things can get v bad - traffic accidents, losing keys, phone, passport, cards; cdn’t go there. So I had to stop,” she wrote.

X users were divided about DeWitt’s post. Novelist Joey Comeau offered his support, writing, “What is their goal? helping artists create, or creating press for themselves?”

Author Cathy Park Hong, however, wrote, “I have respect for Dewitt’s work but for $175,000, I would figure out a way to access WiFi.  The video requirement is also minimal. Now if she has a disability, that’s on wc to accommodate her. But if not, I’m not going to shed tears for a grown woman who made her decision.”

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.