Dinaw Mengestu has resigned as president of PEN America after the literary nonprofit published an article about Israeli and Jewish writers who say they are experiencing isolation in the literary world, The New York Times reports.

Mengestu, the author of novels including All Our Names and Someone Like Us, was elected as PEN America’s president in December; he had previously served on its board of trustees for about 10 years. PEN America said in a news release that the board will be led on an interim basis by its executive vice president, Tracy Higgins, a professor at Fordham Law School.

Mengestu told The Times that his resignation was sparked partly by PEN America’s publication of the article, titled “A Silent Moratorium,” which drew on interviews with more than 30 Israeli and Jewish writers who, according to the writer, “described a widening cultural isolation since the attacks of Oct. 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza.” The article notes PEN America’s opposition to cultural boycotts, saying that they “threaten the free expression rights not only of those associated with the boycotted institutions but also of those in the countries where the boycott is practiced.”

Mengestu said that he thought the report could be used to oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which encourages, in its words, “withdrawing support from Israel’s apartheid regime, complicit Israeli sporting, cultural, and academic institutions, and all Israeli and international companies engaged in violations of Palestinian human rights.” Mengestu also said the article is part of a pattern of PEN America “defending some rights while not defending others.”

The group Writers Against the War on Gaza said in a news release, “We salute Mengestu’s principled decision. We also take this opportunity to remind PEN America that the normalization of Zionism will never again be tolerated by the literary community they claim to serve.”

In a piece for the Atlantic, staff writer Gal Beckerman defended PEN America’s article, arguing that the “reality” that Israeli and Jewish writers feel isolated “does not neutralize the cause of pro-Palestinian writers or the suffering in Gaza and elsewhere.”

Mengestu responded to Beckerman’s article on Instagram, saying it “fails to meet even the lowest possible journalistic standards.” He wrote, “I am not boycotting PEN America. Like many other writers who have reached out to me, I am walking away from it permanently, and I will do everything I can now to help make something better.”

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.