The Palestinian cartoonist Mohammad Saba’aneh kicked off his book tour in New York last night in an appearance at which he said he had no choice but to become a political artist.

Here is the schedule of Saba’aneh’s book tour in the U.S.: You can catch him Friday night in Brooklyn, Saturday night in Clifton, New Jersey, and Monday in Long Island.

And next week, on May 3, Saba’aneh will be speaking at PEN America’s World Voices Festival. Notice that this year the Israeli government will not be among the sponsors of the PEN World Voices Festival. This is surely due to the pressure by Adalah-NY– which in correspondence with PEN president Suzanne Nossel stressed Israel’s “documented records of repressing freedom of expression and violating human rights.”