Not just Sally Rooney: 10 acclaimed new books Israelis won’t get to read in Hebrew
Sally Rooney. a long-time boycotter
Gili Izikovich reports in Haaretz on 10 December 10 2025:
Over the past decade, actress and comedian Kate McKinnon has secured her place among the top tier of international entertainers. A two-time Emmy winner for “Saturday Night Live,” she has also appeared in Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and in the “Ghostbusters” remake.
A year ago, she added a new accomplishment: the publication of her debut novel, The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science, a humorous adventure book for grade-schoolers. It was welcomed enthusiastically and has enjoyed strong sales.
McKinnon explained in interviews before publication that she wrote the book for children who feel unusual or out of place, hoping to offer them a sympathetic wink or supportive nod. That message may well have reached young readers in the United States and beyond – but Israeli children won’t be among them. Several Israeli publishers expressed interest and even competed for the rights to translate the book into Hebrew, but McKinnon, it later emerged, does not want the book to be published in Hebrew.
McKinnon is hardly the only author now boycotting the Israeli book market. One might wonder what young readers have to do with political conflicts, or what purpose a boycott serves in this case, but she is simply part of a broader trend – a slow trickle that, over the past few years, has turned into a deluge. It remains entirely unclear when, and under what conditions, it might end.
In 2021, Haaretz reported that Irish novelist Sally Rooney declined to have her third book translated into Hebrew. After she publicly endorsed the BDS movement (boycott, divestment and sanctions), her titles were later removed from the online stores of Israel’s two major bookstore chains, Steimatzky and Tzomet Sfarim. At the time, the development was startling, almost unimaginable.
Until then, authors who boycotted Israel for political reasons and were not from the Arab world were uncommon. The list included British sci-fi writer China Miéville, novelist Kamila Shamsie, and Australian-Greek author Christos Tsiolkas, known for “The Slap.” Today – four years later and two years after October 7 – such cases have become almost routine.
The current wave cannot be separated from the earlier forms of protest that preceded it. Immediately after October 7, Israeli publishers who approached their international authors for statements of support found their requests largely ignored.
A couple of weeks after the massacre, roughly 4,000 authors and other cultural figures signed a statement describing Israel as an apartheid state engaged in genocide in Gaza. At the U.S. National Book Award ceremony in November 2023, several finalists voiced support for Gazans.
From there, the dynamic grew more polarized, marked by a series of incidents – from the cancellation of last year’s PEN America World Voices Festival, after its organizers expressed sympathy for suffering on both sides (contrary to the position of one faction), to the British Forward Poetry Prizes ceremony last October, which adopted an unequivocally anti-Israeli tone.
Alongside this came a troubling wave of contract cancellations. Many authors, particularly younger writers or those working in genres aimed at young readers – romance, fantasy and the increasingly prominent “romantasy” category – withdrew from translation agreements for Hebrew editions, even after preliminary contracts had been reached.
Rachel Kushner whose 2024 novel ‘Creation Lake’, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, won’t be translated into Hebrew
As more statements circulated and petitions accumulated, the phenomenon broadened further. Some of the world’s most prominent writers – among them French Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux and South Korea’s Han Kang, both previously translated into Hebrew – announced they would no longer allow their books to be published in Hebrew and pledged to boycott Israeli cultural institutions they viewed as complicit in, or silent about, Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
Many, however, choose not to publish statements or give detailed explanations. Instead, conversations simply fade, or publishers receive brief messages saying the authors do not see themselves being translated into Hebrew or published in Israel “at this stage.” Such replies have become routine.
With the cultural boycott on Israel fully visible, new modes of conduct have developed between Israeli editors and their international partners, agents and publishers, intended to reduce useless effort and heartaches. Thus, for example, agents and other mediators in the book industry know not to offer Israeli publishers manuscripts for consideration without first obtaining clear agreement for Hebrew publication. Everybody knows, say Israeli editors, that there are certain countries – Ireland and Norway, for example – where a “no” is more likely than a “yes.”
Still, scanning the list of interesting, attention grabbing and discussion-provoking books that have come out in recent years around the world and will not be translated into Hebrew is a harsh experience of isolation and insult. Award winners, chart-toppers, critical darlings and books fiercely contested for film rights – many of these pass Israeli readers by. The small size of the local market, the vociferousness of boycott supporters, and the close interface between authors in popular genres to social media – a particularly noisy arena for cultural boycott of Israel – all these explain the relatively widespread mobilization for the boycott.
Wait for the movie
A look through the list of refusals received by Israeli publishers – from high literary prose to popular fiction to children’s books – is a recipe for melancholy. Here are ten notable books we are unlikely to read in Hebrew in the foreseeable future:
“Buckeye.” Weeks after its U.S. release last September, Patrick Ryan’s first novel for adults found its way to the “New York Times” bestseller lists – an almost surprising feat for a 400-page novel described as a portrait of suburban America in the 20th century. It tells the story of two couples in the fictitious town of Bonhomie, Ohio, whose lives intertwine over decades. The book begins shortly after World War I and ends in the 1970s, capturing sweeping social changes as experienced in a small town where nobody can keep a secret for long.
“Creation Lake.” Two of Rachel Kushner’s four novels, “Telex from Cuba” and “The Flamethrowers” were translated into Hebrew in the previous decade. That won’t happen with her 2024 novel “Creation Lake,” shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Sadie Smith, the protagonist’s pseudonym, is a chaos agent for hire, planted by big corporations inside environmentalist groups. After being hired to disrupt an agricultural cooperative in France, she begins to doubt her own humanity due to her work. An espionage story inspired by John le Carré and by real incidents – particularly undercover British police officer Mark Kennedy who infiltrated protest groups in the 2000s – the novel tackles issues at the heart of contemporary public discourse.
“The Bee Sting.” Irish novelist Paul Murray’s fourth book tells the story of the financially challenged Barnes family. It won Ireland’s 2023 Book of the Year , was included in the “New York Times” prestigious ‘Best Books of the Year,’ and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Over its 700 pages, Murray explores notions such as lies and truth, concealment and revelation and the price paid by both concealers and revealers. The four family members – Dickie and Imelda and their children, high school student Cass and PJ – are well-rounded characters, though their initial portrayals aren’t flattering.
“BUTTER.” Despite a career strewn with awards and accolades in her own country, Japanese author Asako Yuzuki owes her international breakthrough to her fourth novel. “BUTTER,” her first book translated into English, combines juicy writing about food with a whodunnit. This tempting-horrifying combination – paired with ruminations on morbid obesity and its connection to trauma, thoughts about feminism and standards of behavior and appearance placed on Japanese women – has led to 280,000 sold copies in the United Kingdom alone last year.
The plot follows Rika Machida, a young journalist seeking to write a big feature story about Manak Kajii, held in a Tokyo detention center on suspicion of murdering three men. The murder method, it is suspected, involves seducing the men with Kajii’s incomparable cooking before killing them – a plot based on the true case of a Japanese serial killer. A contract to translate Yuzuki’s book into Hebrew had already been prepared and sent for final signing last March; but then Israel broke the cease-fire, Yuzuki faded away, and all contact with her was lost. A clue about why came months later, when the author posted her support for BDS on her Instagram account.
Statements and petitions set neither a goal nor a duration for the boycott. And though many publishers remain optimistic that things will return to normal – it is entirely unclear when that might be.
“I’m a Fan.” Sheena Patel’s debut novel came out in 2022, but the refusal to even allow Israeli publishers to read it, let alone consider translating it into Hebrew, is relatively new. This dense novel, written in very short first-person chapters, like a memoir, follows a young woman in her 30s, whose name we don’t know. She has a partner and also an affair with a much older man, but her main relationship is one sided, with the man’s other lover. She is obsessive about her, following her on social media. This stalking – involving constant refreshes at all hours of the day, carefully erasing footsteps, cross-referencing and data collection – reflects the discrepancy between them.
Fifteen publishers competed
“Yesteryear.” One of the most fascinating book deals in recent years is the acquisition of Caro Claire Burke’s debut novel, set to be published in April. “Yesteryear,” for which 15 publishers competed before it was sold to Knopf Publishing, is Burke’s debut novel; she previously wrote for magazines and published an Instagram and Substack short story project that made her into an online celebrity. The novel follows a “trad-wife” influencer named Natalie, presenting her eight million followers with an image of simple, perfect farmhouse life – milking, harvesting, married to a cowboy and raising six beautiful children.
This lifestyle venerates tradition and harks back to 19th century values; however, it is propped by an army of babysitters, kitchen workers and producers. One day Natalie wakes up freezing and dirty in the year 1805. Did she travel back in time? Was she forcefully dragged into some twisted reality show? Or is some darker force at play behind all this? We won’t get to read the book in Hebrew, but perhaps the multimillion-dollar Amazon MGM studios film adaptation (starring Anne Hathaway, with a screenplay by Hannah Friedman) will bring the story to Israeli screens.
“James.” Percival Everett is one of the most prominent names on the Israel boycotters’ list. He has published dozens of novels, short story collections, poetry books and even a children’s book. He has been nominated for and won both the Pulitzer prize and the American National Book Award, and his 2003 novel “Erasure” was made into the film “American Fiction” a couple of years ago. Like his other books, “James,” too, will not be translated into Hebrew. The novel retells Mark Twain’s classic “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the point of view of escaped slave Jim, the protagonist’s friend.
“Trespasses.” Louise Kennedy’s 2022 debut novel earned her immediate recognition. Previously a chef, she turned to writing after a bout with cancer. “Trespasses,” her award-winning novel, is set in Northern Ireland at the height of Catholic and Protestant sectarian tension and centers on an affair between a young Catholic schoolteacher and a older married Protestant lawyer. Kennedy’s foray into a seemingly intractable ethnic conflict fueled by generations of hate will not come out in Israel (several local publishers have made attempts – all were denied), though HOT recently aired the beautiful TV adaptation.
“The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother).” Rabih Alameddine – U.S. National Book Award recipient’s – refusal was perhaps predictable, yet had he allowed it, the book would likely have drawn considerable attention here, precisely because it takes place in a reality close to us. “The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) is a dark comedy that recounts, in nonlinear fashion, the history of a Lebanese family over six decades. The narrator is an elderly gay philosophy teacher who’s forced to take a hard look at his past – his relationship with his mother, the civil war, economic crises and the Beirut port explosion that killed hundreds and wounded thousands. Alameddine, of Lebanese Druze descent, is perhaps in a particularly problematic position regarding the translation of his book into Hebrew. But the Israeli publishing house that asked to consider his novel has been denied by other National Book Award nominees this year, such as Angela Flournoy and Bryan Washington.
“What I’d Rather Not Think About.” Dutch author Jente Posthuma’s second novel was nominated last year for the International Booker Prize. It has been described as a European version of Ottessa Moshfegh’s “My Year of Rest and Relaxation:” a grown-up millennial voice trying to come to terms with a world devoid of warmth and human contact. The protagonist, an obsessive collector of sweaters – she owns 142 – is consumed by an attempt to investigate the life of her twin brother, who died by suicide. She returns to their childhood and his adulthood in search of meaning and to understand the factors that pushed him toward this act.
Pressure Group
This state of affairs is troubling. Statements, petitions and letters of protest set neither a goal nor a duration for the boycott. And though many Israeli editors and publishers who spoke to Haaretz expressed hope and optimism that things will return to normal if things remain peaceful – it is entirely unclear when that might be. Perhaps the solution will come from organizing efforts by senior figures in the industry – Israelis or Jews abroad – who will act as a pressure group among their counterparts. Or perhaps only political change, should it happen, will herald the end of the boycott.
In the meantime, last Thursday the publishing website The Bookseller posted a report indicating that the boycott practice is here to stay – perhaps not just against Israel. Chinese American author Rebecca F. Kuang announced she was withdrawing from a book festival financed by the United Arab Emirates’ national airline, scheduled for January in Dubai. Kuang wrote on Instagram that BDS activists approached her to withdraw from the festival due to the UAE’s complicity in the war in Sudan. “I would love to join you in Dubai when there is no longer a need for a boycott,” wrote Kuang, author of bestsellers “Babel” and “Yellowface,” which also went untranslated into Hebrew. “I have always respected organized calls for cultural boycotts against genocide from communities directly affected, and in particular guidelines set forth by the BDS movement.”
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