John Boyne is ‘too popular to be cancelled’ after backlash over his gender-critical views.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas author has said his literary peers have tried to ‘cancel’ him over his views on transgender issues – but book sales have only gone up.
The famed Irish writer John Boyne, 54, came under criticism in July after publicly ‘standing behind’ JK Rowling’s gender-critical views, calling himself ‘a fellow Terf’ – a trans-exclusionary radical feminist.
The controversy continued after he was last month longlisted for an LGBT literary award, the Polari prize, for his book Earth, which prompted more than 10 out of the 34 nominees to withdraw from the running.
Over 800 writers, editors, publishers and booksellers signed a joint author statement objecting to Mr Boyne’s nomination, calling the gay writer’s views ‘abhorrent’, ‘disgusting’, ‘hurtful’ and ‘incompatible with inclusion’.
The organisers ultimately scrapped the prize and said they hoped it would return in 2026.
In a statement published before the award was shelved, Mr Boyne said his ‘views on trans rights have never changed’ and he had faced ‘endless harassment at the hands of both strangers and fellow writers’.
However the success of the hugely popular gay author has remained unfaltered as the row has not affected the sales of his novels, he said.
‘Attempts to destroy my career have always come to nothing. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I sell a lot of books and people seem to like my books.
