Margaret Atwood has pulled out of the Emirates Airline International Festival for Literature in the wake of the fair’s decision to cancel the launch of Geraldine Bedell’s The Gulf Between Us because of the inclusion of a gay character. Other authors due to appear at the festival, including bestselling children’s authors Anthony Horowitz and Lauren Child, are now also reconsidering whether to attend. Atwood, a vice president of International PEN, has written to the festival’s director about the “regrettable turn of events” surrounding Geraldine Bedell’s The Gulf Between Us. “I was greatly looking forward to the festival, and to the […]
