Author R.F. Kuang has dropped out of a UAE literary festival, citing the BDS boycott.

R.F. Kuang, the bestselling novelist behind Katabasis, Yellowface, and Babel, is taking a stand with the BDS movement.

Citing a call from the organizers of the Palestinian BDS (or, Boycott, Divest, and Sanction) National Committee, the popular author withdrew from a slated appearance at the upcoming Emirates Airline Festival of Literature yesterday.

Though she’d planned to appear in person this January, Kuang backed out of LitFest with apologies to the organizers and her Emirati fans. She broke the news to all readers via Insta last night, saying she will “no longer be able to travel to Dubai” for the festival, due to the UAE’s implication with ongoing atrocities in Sudan.

The UN has accused the UAE of supplying weapons to the Rapid Supports Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group behind the unfolding violence. And while the UAE government continues to deny such allegations—or attempt to mitigate them, with robust humanitarian aid—the BDS movement has called on its affiliates to express solidarity with affected “kindred people in Sudan.”

Kuang, who has previously explored colonial violence in her beloved Poppy Wars trilogy, told followers that she has “always respected organized calls for cultural boycotts against genocide from communities directly affected and in particular, guidelines set forth by the BDS movement.”

Prolific as she is principled, Kuang is meanwhile at work on four more books. Taipei Story, her next, will follow a college freshman as she comes into age and identity while processing deep grief.

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature kicked of 15 years ago. Supported by the Emirates Literary Foundation, the fest represents “the Arab World’s largest celebration of the written and spoken word,” and ideally features international and regional writers, poets, thinkers, and speakers from all over the world.