Linwood Barclay, an American-born Canadian author, has dropped out of the Tucson Festival of Books because of President Trump’s executive order that bans entry to the United States from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
“I really wanted to come (to Tucson). I love it there,” said Barclay, but he said he couldn’t cross a border that millions of innocent people could not.
“I cannot cross a border that an Iranian Oscar nominee cannot cross to attend the Academy Awards,” said Barclay, speaking of Asghar Farhadi, director of Oscar-nominated “The Salesman.” Barclay said he did not feel any personal danger.
He was scheduled to speak at the festival, which is March 11-12, and to present to the Brandeis National Committee’s Phoenix Chapter in the following days. He then planned to vacation in Arizona and see Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West.
The festival committee encouraged Barclay to reconsider coming to Tucson as it would be an opportunity for Barclay to share his thoughts and perspectives, said Brenda Viner, a festival founder and the festival steering committee chair.
“However, I respect his opinion and personal decision,” she said.
Other authors will be filling Barclay’s spot at the festival, said Viner. As of Wednesday afternoon, no other authors had dropped out because of the border restrictions, she said.
Barclay, a former editor and columnist for the Toronto Star, is an internationally best-selling author of 13 novels. He recently completed the Promise Falls trilogy with “The Twenty-Three,” which wraps up the story in “Broken Promise” and “Far From True.”
He was born in Connecticut and moved to Canada before he was 4.
The Tucson Festival of Books expects about 350 authors during the two-day event on the University of Arizona campus.
