Pulitzer Winning Author Jhumpa Lahiri Rejects Isamu Noguchi Award In Protest Over Ban On Palestinian Scarves

Pulitzer Prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri declined to accept an award from New York City's Noguchi Museum after it fired three employees for wearing keffiyeh head scarves, an emblem of Palestinian solidarity, following an updated dress code.

"Jhumpa Lahiri has chosen to withdraw her acceptance of the 2024 Isamu Noguchi Award in response to our updated dress code policy," the museum said in a statement on Wednesday (September 25, 2024).

"We respect her perspective and understand that this policy may or may not align with everyone's views." Ms. Lahiri received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for her book "Interpreter of Maladies."