David Robjant

Shocking! And extremely worrying. An Edinburgh book shop has cancelled an event featuring American Scottish Jewish poet Tracey S. Rosenberg allegedly because she refused to renounce Zionism. The Dead Poets’ Slam was scheduled for 2 December 2026, a light-hearted poetry competition in which performers would impersonate deceased poets and recite their work. Ms Rosenberg was due to host the evening in the character of Dorothy Parker. The bookshop Typewronger advertised on Eventbrite, tickets were booked and performers had begun signing up. However, on 19 October, the bookshop contacted Ms Rosenberg claiming it had received complaints about “potential safeguarding issues”. These included allegations that she had performed “various Zionist/racist poems” at other Edinburgh open mic events and accused other poets of antisemitism for using the phrase “Free Palestine”. In its email to Ms Rosenberg, Typewronger stated that it did not want to create the impression that it supported Israel and declared: “Free Palestine is very much the opinion of those who work here.” The bookshop then asked Ms Rosenberg to clarify her own position. When she requested a telephone conversation, Typewronger insisted on communicating by email, stating: “I hope our position is unambiguous, please let me know yours.” Ms Rosenberg replied that she was unsure what was expected of her. Typewronger refused to engage further with Ms Rosenberg, instead choosing to cancel the event less that two hours after first raising the allegations. Ms Rosenberg identified three poems on subjects relating to Israel and her Jewish identity that she performed at spoken word events. These related to the 7 October terrorist attacks, antisemitism in Britain and anti-Israel protests. None of them was racist. Her case has been taken up by @UKLFI which argues that Zionism, understood as belief in the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their homeland, is capable of protection as a philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010. The Act also protects Jewish ethnicity and religion. ers are not required to declare their political views on Israel or other unrelated issues as a condition of participation. Ms Rosenberg commented: “I’m sad that an independent bookshop I’ve admired and supported for years chose to discriminate against me based on unfounded rumors.’ A UKLFI spokesperson said: “It is alarming that a Jewish poet’s event could be cancelled simply because someone complained that her poetry was ‘Zionist’. She was apparently expected to demonstrate agreement with the bookshop’s political position on Israel, even though her event had nothing to do with the conflict. “People are entitled to disagree about Israel, but they are not entitled to exclude others from public events because of their Jewish identity or protected beliefs. We believe this cancellation crossed the line into unlawful discrimination.”