Solzhenitsyn finished Cancer Ward in mid-1966, and by June, sent the manuscript to the Russian literary magazine Novy Mir. The editor, Tvardosky, equivocated and requested cuts, so Solzhenitsyn arranged the novel be distributed as samizdat, then it be discussed at a meeting in Moscow of the Central Writers' Club on 17 November 1966. Joseph Pearce writes attendance was higher than usual.