Over 100 authors sign letter to boycott Indigo Books
Viet Thanh Nguyen, Mosab Abu Toha, Jenan Matari, and Daniel José Older are among the signers pledging to skip Indigo-hosted and Indigo-sponsored events.
More than 100 writers, including Viet Thanh Nguyen, Mosab Abu Toha, Jenan Matari, and Daniel José Older, have signed an open letter pledging to boycott Indigo Books and Music, Canada's largest bookstore, Literary Hub reported. The signers pledge not to support events hosted or sponsored by Indigo, in solidarity with the Indigo Kills Kids campaign.
The letter, according to the outlet, demands that Indigo CEO Heather Reisman and her husband Gerald Schwartz fully divest from Indigo and/or dissolve the HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers, a Canadian charitable organization that funds foreign nationals who enlist in the Israeli military. The letter states that Reisman and Schwartz have donated an average of $5 million annually to grants and scholarships supporting those who enlist in the Israeli military.
The outlet also reported that in 2025, the Giller Prize ended its partnership with Indigo Books, following more than two years of protests and pressure campaigns from groups including Can Lit Responds and No Arms in the Arts, and after having severed ties with lead sponsor Scotiabank earlier that year. The outlet separately reported that Reisman and Schwartz donated $4,600,000 to the HESEG Foundation in 2024.
Here's the thing about an open letter: it costs a signer nothing until an invite actually lands. The real test comes the next time a publicist proposes an Indigo event and one of these 100-plus names has to say yes or no. If you're weighing whether to sign something like this yourself, read the demands first, not just the headline — know exactly what you're agreeing to refuse before you put your name on it.
From the Coral Wire edition of Fri, Oct 30 2026 · Coral Index 15/100 (Storm warning)