“The library does not shy away from this decision as it was made in the best interests of all participants.”

The library’s head of audience engagement, Angharad Wynne-Jones, resigned last Thursday. Three library sources said her resignation was directly related to postponement of the events. Wynne-Jones did not respond to questions, and the library said it did not comment on individual staff.

Library staff who spoke to this masthead, speaking anonymously because they were fearful of their employment being placed in jeopardy, said they were concerned and frustrated by the lack of transparency shown by management, pointing to conflicting internal statements and inconsistencies between internal and external communications.

In response to growing internal backlash at the decision made by library management, staff began circulating a letter criticising the way the writers had been treated. The letter accuses the chief executive, board and executive team of undermining the institution’s values and sending a message of “discrimination and censorship”.

“As State Library Victoria staff, we object to library leadership’s decision to ‘defer’ Teen Writing Bootcamp events seemingly because of the authors’ support for Palestine,” the letter from staff says.

“This political decision damages SLV’s reputation and thus jeopardises our stated goal of becoming an active community voice for learning, knowledge and culture.”

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Staff signatories ask that the workshops along with the original writers employed to run them be reinstated, and that the SLV issue them a public apology. More than 100 of the library’s nearly 300 staff have signed the open letter.

The writers whose events were cancelled – Alison Evans, Jinghua Qian, Ariel Slamet Ries and Omar Sakr – sent a separate, open letter to the library’s CEO and board, and Minister for Creative Industries Colin Brooks on Wednesday asking to be reinstated and for clarity around what transpired.

High-profile Australian writers including Christos Tsiolkas, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Tony Birch, Hannah Kent, John Kinsella, Claire Coleman, Evelyn Araluen and Michelle de Kretser have added their names to the second open letter.

Victorian Greens arts spokesperson Gabrielle di Vietri has written to the library and the minister expressing her concerns. She intends to introduce a motion to parliament next week calling on the state government to step in and demand transparency from the library around the issue.

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