YA author Kosoko Jackson asked his publisher Sourcebooks to pull his novel, A Place for Wolves, from publication.

The historical thriller, which was slated for publication on March 26 (and earned an early starred review in SLJ's February 2019 issue), follows a gay African American teenager as he falls in love during the Kosovo War. It drew criticism for its depiction of an Albanian Muslim character as a terrorist, and for centering a romance between two Americans against a real and recent conflict.

In a review on Goodreads, Tamera Cook wrote, “given the enormous death toll for ethnic Albanians, and the fact that the ethnic cleansing was entirely targeted towards Albanians, I think it is wholly irresponsible to have the story’s main villain be an ethnic Albanian.”

In a statement on Thursday that he posted to Twitter, Jackson wrote, “I failed to fully understand the people and the conflict that I set around my characters. I have done a disservice to the history and to the people who suffered. Because of this, I have asked my publisher to withdraw A Place for Wolves from publication.”