Oslo- A Norwegian literature festival has cancelled an invitation to controversial British historian David Irving, organizers said Thursday.

Irving, who in 2006 was sentenced in Austria for denying the Holocaust, was invited to the Norwegian Festival of Literature at the end of May 2009.

The invitation generated a lot of criticism and on Thursday, the festival's artistic director, Stig Saeterbakken, resigned.

In a statement on the festival's website Saeterbakken defended the decision to invite Irving, underlining that the theme of the festival was truth.

It was "interesting and relevant" to discuss those themes with Irving who has been "sentenced to a prison sentence for denying the truth," he said.

Irving told public broadcaster NRK that the decision for cancellation was "cowardly." (dpa)