Author tour for controversial ‘American Dirt’ is canceled
The publisher of Jeanine Cummins’ controversial novel “American Dirt“has canceled the remainder of her promotional tour, citing concerns for her safety.
The novel about a Mexican mother and her young son fleeing to the U.S. border had been praised widely before its Jan. 21 release and was chosen by Oprah Winfrey for her book club. But Mexican-American writers have been among those strongly criticizing “American Dirt” for stereotypical depictions of Mexicans. Cummins is of Irish and Puerto Rican background. Even she had raised questions about the narrative, writing in an author’s note at the end of the book that she had wondered if “someone slightly browner than me” should have done it.
“Jeanine Cummins spent five years of her life writing this book with the intent to shine a spotlight on tragedies facing immigrants,” Bob Miller, president and publisher of Flatiron Books, said in a statement Wednesday. “We are saddened that a work of fiction that was well-intentioned has led to such vitriolic rancor.
“Unfortunately, our concerns about safety have led us to the difficult decision to cancel the book tour.”
Flatiron Books is hoping to organize a series of townhall discussions.
Cummins, 45, had made a handful of promotional appearances since her book was released, but over the past few days the St. Louisbased
Left Bank Books had called off an event and Flatiron had canceled interviews in California. The tour for her heavily promoted book had been scheduled to last at least through midFebruary, with planned stops throughout the country.
Miller says the town-hall gatherings would include Cummins and her critics, calling it “an opportunity to come together and unearth difficult truths to help us move forward as a community.” On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Winfrey confirmed that Winfrey will meet as planned with the author next month and that the discussion will air in March on Apple TV Plus. “American Dirt” was the third novel picked by Winfrey since she began a partnership with Apple last year.
Earlier Wednesday, dozens of authors, including Valeria Luiselli, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Tommy Orange, published an open letter that urged Winfrey to reconsider her selection of Cummins’ novel.
“The book club provides a seal of approval that can still, we hope, be changed,” they wrote. “Good intentions do not make good literature particularly not when the execution is so faulty, and the outcome so harmful.”
Winfrey first chose “American Dirt” last fall, before any criticism had emerged and acknowledged in a pre-publication interview with the AP that she was unaware of any controversy. She has since posted a video on Instagram, saying she had been following the debate and hoped for a broad discussion.
“I’ve spent the past few days listening to members of the Latinx community to get a greater understanding of their concerns, and I hear them. I do,” Winfrey said in the video. “What I want to do is bring people together from all sides to talk about this book.”
“American Dirt” has dramatized issues of diversity in publishing.
One of Cummins’ leading detractors, Myriam Gurba, tweeted Wednesday that she, too, had security concerns. She wrote she had received death threats because of her criticisms and added “Let’s talk about the SAFETY of MIGRANTS and LATINX ppl. That’s what that book was intended to do, right?”