A Jewish poet has accused an Edinburgh bookshop of discrimination after it cancelled her event over concerns that hosting her could create “the perception that we'd support the state of Israel”.
Dr Tracey Rosenberg, a writer in residence at the University of Edinburgh and a regular on the city’s slam poetry scene, was due to host a Dead Poets’ Slam event at Typewronger bookshop in Bruntsfield on December 2.
The event, in which participants dress as poets from history and perform their work, was set to include a poem by a Palestinian writer killed in the Gaza war.
But last month, bookseller Tee Hodges emailed Rosenberg accusing her of taking an “aggressive stance” on Palestine, citing concerns raised by others in the city’s poetry community.
Hodges said the shop had been approached by an anonymous poet “about potential safeguarding issues” surrounding Rosenberg’s event.
“They claim you've read various Zionist/racist poems at open mics around Edinburgh and called other poets antisemitic for using the phrase ‘Free Palestine.’ They mentioned that they themselves are Jewish,” Hodges wrote.
“I reached out to some trusted folk in the scene who tell me you've apparently taken a very aggressive stance and at times gone further than you perhaps intended to express your reaction to the situation in Palestine.”
The shopkeeper said they were concerned about “the perception that we'd support the state of Israel in the atrocities it has perpetrated on the Palestinians”.
“There can be no ambiguity here – what Israel has done is wrong, Free Palestine is very much the opinion of those who work here and our wider community,” Hodges added, insisting the bookshop's community “includes a number of Jewish people and is in no way antisemitic”.
Taken aback by the accusations, Rosenberg asked to discuss the matter by phone, but Hodges responded: “I hope our position is unambiguous, please let me know yours.”
Rosenberg replied: “I'm genuinely not sure what you expect from me.”
Shortly afterwards, a friend informed her that she had received an Eventbrite notification cancelling the event.
Hodges subsequently confirmed the decision, writing: “I feel we're not communicating well together here, and it would be best for both of us to cancel the event... It's better we find out now rather than later.”
Speaking to the JC after the cancellation, Rosenberg said: “Did they want an apology? Do they want a purity test? What did they want for this to move forward?
“They were more concerned about the reputation, because they wouldn't want to be seen as doing anything that supported Israel.”
The event had nothing to do with Israel, Rosenberg explained. “This is a dead poet slam; it is about pretending you're a dead poet, I’m was going to be Dorothy Parker, someone else was going to be Emily Dickinson.”
Feeling discriminated against because of her Judaism, Rosenberg has raised the matter with Scotland's culture minister, Màiri McAllan, and her MSP, Scottish Green Q Manivannan, whose office had previously encouraged constituents to report discrimination.
In an email to Manivannan, Rosenberg wrote: “Tee Hodges cancelled the event solely due to my beliefs as a Jew who supports Israel. This is blatant discrimination.”
But Manivannan's office responded that MSPs "cannot interfere with political differences”.
Rosenberg replied: “My situation is a matter of discrimination in violation of the Equality Act (on my protected characteristics of race, religion, and belief) and I am in a great deal of distress about it. I am Q's constituent.”
Meanwhile, UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has challenged the cancellation on Rosenberg’s behalf and believes the decision could constitute unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.
“People are entitled to disagree about Israel, but they are not entitled to exclude others from public events because of their Jewish identity or protected beliefs. We believe this cancellation crossed the line into unlawful discrimination,” a UKLFI spokesperson said.
This is not the first time Jewish artists have been cancelled in the Scottish capital. Last year, comedians Rachel Creeger and Philip Simon were pulled from a free Fringe venue over “safety concerns”.
Rosenberg thinks that pro-Palestine activism is now pervasive in Scotland’s spoken-word scene, and she has become increasingly concerned about antisemitism.
Dr Tracey Rosenberg (Credit: Chris Scott)[Missing Credit]
Originally from Chicago, Rosenberg had become increasingly concerned about prejudice in Edinburgh's poetry scene since returning to it in 2025 after more than a decade away.
She recalled performing a political poem about Israel at the Scottish National Slam Championships in 2014 without controversy, but said the environment had since become overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian.
After visiting Israel in May 2025 and seeing posters of the hostages in Tel Aviv, she wrote a piece called The Dead Among Us, which she subsequently performed in Edinburgh.
She later wrote What I’ve Learned Since October 7, 2023, a poem she described as being “about antisemitism and hypocrisy” following the December 14 Bondi Beach terror attack.
She told the JC that those are the only two poems she has performed about her Jewish identity in recent years; more of her work relates to the Ukraine war and other issues.
She rejected suggestions that she had behaved aggressively towards pro-Palestinian performers, as Typewronger’s email had suggested, saying she had occasionally stepped outside before poems she found upsetting, as is standard under slam poetry’s practice of trigger-warnings.
“I didn't walk out during the poems. I knew [a particular poet] was coming up, so I decided to step outside because I don't want to hear his poems, they bother me. So to accuse me of walking out on a poet [means] everyone else gets protected, they get self-care, but when it's against me, I get accused of being aggressive.”
Since being cancelled by Typewronger, Rosenberg’s Dead Poets’ Slam has been rescheduled to the Waverley Bar on January 21.
Responding to the story, Typewronger disputed Rosenberg’s account.
In an email to the JC Hodges said: “We cancelled the event because Tracey would not answer serious accusations about her conduct at other poetry events, only some of which were linked to pro-Israel comments.
“Tracey’s identity was not the reason the event was pulled, this is how we would treat anyone who refused to engage in a dialogue with us in advance of an event when such accusations had been made and concerns raised about safeguarding. Tracey's response seemed flippant, and we take the safety of our staff and event attendees seriously.”
Hodges accused UKLFI of “bullying tactics”.
Manivannan was approached for comment.
To get more news, click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.