Broward schools cancels event with children’s author following Gaza ceasefire post

Broward County admin September 4, 2026 0 Comments

Broward schools cancels event with children’s author following Gaza ceasefire post

Broward County Public Schools has cancelled an upcoming event with a New York Times best-selling author amid criticism of a post she made in 2024 criticizing Israel and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Author and illustrator Vashti Harrison, best known for children’s books celebrating Black history and self-love, was scheduled to appear at a district-sponsored parent event at the African American Research Library & Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale on Sept. 17.

But in a vaguely worded social media post, Broward County Public Schools said Thursday that the district “understands the concerns raised regarding the selection of a speaker for an upcoming event” and that it was “unaware of previous statements made by the speaker at the time of the selection.” As a result, the district cancelled the event and any associated field trips and is planning on rescheduling with a new speaker.

The district did not say which event it had canceled, and did not respond to the Miami Herald’s request for comment. But a spokesperson from the Broward County Public Library system confirmed that Harrison’s event has been scrapped.

The event — which is still on the district calendar — was described as an orientation event for Parent Training Academy, a series of district-sponsored workshops designed to instruct parents on ways to help assist their children in learning. Promotional materials for the event described Harrison as a “New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of children’s books” who inspires “young minds to dream big and see themselves in every story.”

Harrison’s picture book “Big,” which details a young Black girl’s journey to self-love, won the 2024 Caldecott Medal and Coretta Scott King honor for both its writing and illustrations.

Harrison could not immediately be reached for comment.

The district’s cryptic cancellation follows a blog post from a local journalist calling attention to Harrison’s “antizionist advocacy.”

In his blog “After October 7,” Kevin Deutsch criticizes Harrison’s past support for a ceasefire campaign in Gaza, pointing to a 2024 Instagram post where Harrison declared that she was one of 7,000 people who signed a letter to President Joe Biden calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.

Deutsch wrote that he called the Broward school district earlier this week to ask about the selection and approval of Harrison as a speaker and inquire whether officials were aware of her participation in the ceasefire letter campaign.

The letter to Biden called attention to the Israeli war campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’ attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 Israeli civilians.

The letter, signed by thousands of writers, illustrators, agents, editors and others in the children’s publishing community, criticized the Israeli government for bombing and invading Gaza in the days after Oct. 7, focusing on the thousands of children harmed or killed in the war. The letter is associated with a movement called #kidlit4ceasefire, which has called the situation in Gaza a genocide, a characterization that many Jewish Zionist groups reject.

“These attacks have resulted in more than 31,000 Palestinians killed. 12,000 of these victims are children of a median reported age of five years old. Thousands more Palestinian children still remain buried in rubble and are unaccounted for,” the 2024 letter read.

This story was produced with financial support from Trish and Dan Bell and donors in South Florida’s Jewish and Muslim communities, including Khalid and Diana Mirza and the Mohsin and Fauzia Jaffer Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.