On Friday this week, Shibli should have received the Liberaturpreis 2023 at the book fair in Frankfurt, an annual prize awarded to female writers from Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Arab world. A few days ago, however, the organizer Litprom decided to postpone the award “due to the war started by Hamas, from which millions of people in Israel and Palestine are suffering”. According to the Guardian, which cites Shibli’s publisher, the decision must have been made without the author’s consent, and Shibli says she would have used the opportunity to reflect on the role of literature in a time of much suffering. The book fair in Frankfurt takes place this week and attracts audiences, publishers and authors from all over the world. This is a picture from a previous fair. Photo: Thomas Espevik / news “In solidarity with Israel” Many, both visitors and authors, are now also reacting to the fact that the German book fair, which is the world’s largest of its kind, is choosing to take sides in the conflict. In an Instagram post published on the book fair’s profile, the director of the book fair, Juergen Boos, is quoted: Screenshot from the Instagram profile of the book fair in Frankfurt. “We want to make Jewish and Israeli voices particularly visible at the book fair. The terror against Israel goes against all the values that the book fair in Frankfurt stands for. The book fair in Frankfurt stands in complete solidarity with Israel.” Several now say that they want to boycott the book fair, and call it “shameful” that the conflict is dragged into the world of culture. “All Israelis are anonymous rapists” Shibli’s novel, “Minor detail” or “A small detail” in Norwegian, was published in 2020 and is partly based on real events from 1949 when a Bedouin girl was raped and killed by Israeli military. Adania Shibli was a guest at the international literature festival in Bergen last year. Photo: Eivind Senneset / LitFestBergen Director Tine Kjær in Cappelen Damm, which publishes the book in Norwegian, says it is a brutal book. – This is a novel that really has to be read on the premise of the novel. It is a rather brutal novel with a brutal action and which is also about war’s betrayal of man, and the dehumanizing nature of being a soldier. Kjær believes it is important that literature can go into “such dark places”, and that it is something completely different from being “politically agitator”. It has received rave reviews from several quarters, but at the same time has proven to be controversial. Literary critic Carsten Otte in the German newspaper Taz problematizes that “all Israelis in the book are anonymous rapists or murderers, while the Palestinians are victims of poisonous or ‘shoot-happy’ occupiers.” Litprom hailed the book as a “strictly composed work of art that tells about the power of the border and what violent conflicts do to – and out of – people”. They now write that there was never any doubt about awarding the prize to Adania Shibli. They also reject the accusations and defamation against the author and the novel as baseless. Authors in letter: “Have a responsibility to create space” The fact that they are now withdrawing Shibli from this year’s program at the book fair still causes many to react. Several hundred authors have now sent an open letter to those behind the book fair in Frankfurt, where they point out that the fair has “a responsibility to create space for Palestinian writers to share thoughts, feelings and reflections on literature in these terrible times, instead of to shut them out.” Tine Kjær, director of Cappelen Damm, says she struggles to understand why the festival chooses to come out with such a clear side in the conflict in the Middle East. Photo: NTB Kjær in Cappelen Damm thinks it is a strange decision by Litprom to postpone the award and by the festival to choose such a clear side in the conflict. – I struggle to understand it. I think it is very sad that a meeting place such as the book fair in Frankfurt, which is for the entire book world, should take such measures, and sluice literature and the conversation about literature into political tracks in this way. She says that this has led to several Arab publishers withdrawing from the book fair. – So that this book fair as a meeting place becomes all the more polarized, more limited, more marked by politics and less by literature on literature’s premises. – An unusual decision Last year, Adania Shibli was a guest at the international literature festival in Bergen. Festival director Teresa Grøtan tells news that it is unusual for a festival or fair to take such a clear position in a war, as the book fair is now doing. – If you ever take a position, it is usually for free speech. Teresa Grøtan is festival director of the international literature festival in Bergen. She believes it is unusual to take such a clear position in a political conflict as the book fair is now doing. Photo: Photo: Helge Hansen / Montag Bergen She believes the book fair could use the occasion for the exact opposite of what they are doing now. – I believe that they could have used this opportunity and opportunity to show what role literature can actually play in a world that is so polarized. We can use literature both to create understanding and meaning in a time where it can be difficult to find any meaning at all. “A platform for both Israelis and Palestinians” Juergen Boos, director of the book fair in Frankfurt, writes in a statement to news that they have sympathy for all those affected by the war. “We cannot comment on the decisions of individual exhibitors or participants, but our platform is always open to authors, publishers, translators and literature fans from around the world. Of course, the book fair in Frankfurt is a platform for both Israeli and Palestinian voices. In the email, they also point out that the award to Shibli was canceled by the organizer Litprom, not by the book fair.
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The book fair in Frankfurt drops the celebration of Palestinian Adania Shibli. Several authors are now boycotting the fair – news Culture and entertainment
