An author who lost a book deal after being accused of shaming a black train worker is suing her publisher for $13.4m (€11.85m), claiming their condemnation led to “suicidal thoughts” and death threats.

Writer Natasha Tynes filed a lawsuit against Rare Bird Lit publishers in a Los Angeles court on Friday. She accused the “all-white company” of breaching its contract and defaming her after she was accused of being “anti-black” on social media.

Ms Tynes made headlines in May, when she tweeted a picture of a female employee of Washington DC Metro eating on a train, saying: “You’re on your morning commute & see @wmata employee in uniform eating on the train. I thought we were not allowed to eat on the train. This is unacceptable.”

Scores of Twitter users criticised the author, who is Jordanian American, for shaming the black worker.

Tynes is now claiming Rare Bird inaccurately painted her, an “immigrant woman of colour”, as racist while benefiting from the public backlash.

Rare Bird said the author merely suffered the consequences of her actions.

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