During the Frankfurt Book Fair, which takes place from Wednesday 18 October to Sunday 22 October, the Palestinian novelist Adania Shibli he was supposed to meet his audience on Friday 20 October and, at the end, receive an award for his book A small detailwhich recounts a rape and murder perpetrated by Israeli soldiers in 1949.
But on 13 October the company LitProm, organizer of the prize, partly financed by the German government and the Frankfurt Fair, decided differently. The meeting was cancelled, as was the awards ceremony.
The reason ? Fiera said it wanted to return Israeli votes “particularly audible”, following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which led to an ongoing response against Gazans in Palestine. If at first the organizers declared that they had made this decision in agreement with the author, she immediately denied it and announced that this decision had been imposed on her.
More than 600 book personalities provide support
In response, more than six hundred people from the world of literature and publishing published an open letter on Monday 16 October, to be read in The world, who protests against this decision. Among them there are at least three Nobel Prize winners for literature, Annie Ernaux, but also the Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk and the Tanzanian novelist Abulrazak Gurnah.
The signatories denounce the fact that the organizers “close the space to a Palestinian voice”, we can read in the letter. “The Frankfurt Book Fair has a responsibility to create spaces where Palestinian writers can share their thoughts, feelings and reflections on literature in these terrible and cruel times, without closing them,” adds the text. The signatories also mention the “ responsibility » from the organizers of “ create spaces that allow Palestinian writers to share their thoughts on literature in these grave and terrible times, instead of silencing them “.
Several publishing groups in the Arab world have also announced that they will boycott the exhibition. Such as the Sharjah Book Authoritya publishing house from the United Arab Emirates, which made it known that it wanted to defend it “the role of culture and books in promoting dialogue and understanding between people”.
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Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
