Indian poet Jacinta Kerketta rejects US-backed arts award in solidarity with Palestine [Video]

A poet and author from an Indigenous community in India has refused a US-backed arts award “in solidarity” with Palestinians.

Jacinta Kerketta, 41, has refused the 2024 Room to Read Young Author Award, jointly awarded by USAID and Room to Read India Trust for her children’s poetry collection, Jirhul.

Room to Read India is an international nonprofit working in the areas of early-grade literacy, gender equality, and girls’ education.

“As a poet, I want to show my solidarity with the children, women and victims of Palestine,” she told The Independent.

“I saw that Room to Read India Trust is also associated with Boeing for children’s education,” she said.

In August last year, the then Indianminister of women and child development and minority affairs, Smriti Irani, announced …