NOURNEWS- Although it was predictable that the European politicians would not turn their backs on Tel Aviv and turned a blind eye to the human tragedy of Gaza with questionable satisfaction, but it was far from expected and unimaginable that a cultural institution would follow the lead of the politicians and their paths. The Frankfurt Book Fair, which is the largest and most famous gathering of book activists in the world, opened its gates yesterday, 18 October to its clients and audiences, which 5 days ago canceled its previously approved programs, and closed its door to the Palestinian author and removed the award ceremony for Adania Shibli, the author of the acclaimed novel “Minor Detail” from its program list.
The Frankfurt Book Fair celebrated its 75th year of existence this year. Since 1949, this great and exciting banquet has been held for the most prestigious publishers and authors of written works from all over the world to gather in this great gathering and expand the scope of exchange and interaction of written culture for a week. The exhibition also organizes side ceremonies during these publishing transactions every year, one of which is the awarding of prizes called “Liberator”; An annual award given to the best works of female writers from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
“Liberator” was supposed to be awarded this year to “Adania Shibli”, a Palestinian author who was a professor of critical theories and cultural studies at the University of Nottingham, as well as a visiting professor at the Paris School of Social Sciences and is currently a member of the Berlin Center for Social Studies. Shibli, who was born in Palestine in 1974, has several novels, all of which have been well-received by critics and audiences. She was nominated for the prestigious Booker International Prize for the publication of her latest book called “Minor Detail”. Although Shibli is fluent in numerous languages, she always writes her novels in Arabic.
“Minor Detail”, which was translated into English in 2017, made her a Booker nominee; when it was translated into German in 2022, it immediately made its author the winner of the “Liberator” award, and it was supposed to be awarded to her during a ceremony at this year's Frankfurt exhibition. 5 days ago, Jürgen Bose, the director of this exhibition, announced that the ceremony has been postponed to another time due to what he claims is “the crushing of humanity by the attack of Hamas on Israel”. In this way, an institution that boasts of being a “place of freedom and diversity of opinions” for 75 years is acting in the manner of politicians and tying this cultural feast to politicians' untrue claims.
“Minor Detail” the latest novel of Adania Shibli, is a thoroughly Palestinian novel. This work includes two time periods and is written around the story of a brutal crime that happened in the summer of 1949 in Palestine. In this story, Israeli soldiers kill a teenage girl and bury her. Years later, a young woman living in Palestine learns about the events of this event. A story as simple as this upsets Frankfurt managers, who claim that awarding an award to the author of such a work is an example of politics entering the field of culture. They seem to have forgotten that in last year's exhibition, they designed a special section during which Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, would give his recorded message to the world through the platform of this cultural banquet.
From the moment of the official announcement of this decision on October 13, a long line of cultural and book people criticized this uncultured behavior and made their opposition public. In a letter with 600 signatures and valid names, world-renowned critics, writers, and publishers, who considered the dual behavior of the Frankfurt exhibition to be contrary to cultural integrity, denounced the cancellation of the award program and the celebration of the Palestinian writer. In this letter, which was signed by figures such as Nobel winner Annie Ernaux, Nobel winner Olga Tokarczuk, Ann Enright, kamila shamsie, Hisham Matar, Rawi Hage, Leila Aboulela, Richard Flanagan, Wallace Shawn, Colm Tóibín, Eileen Myles, William Safire, Rachel Kushner and hundreds of other authors, as well as dozens of editors, book fairs, and global publishers, said: “While Shibli’s Minor Detail has been read by two German journalists and literary editors as anti-Semitic to attach a stigma to it, other serious literature critics has clearly rejected this issue in the German press and other literary publications. This book is based on the documented events related to the rape of a girl in 1949 by a unit of the Zionist army. The letter continues: “Frankfurt Book Fair, as a major international book fair, has the responsibility to create a space for Palestinian writers to share their thoughts, feelings, and reflections on literature in this terrible and oppressive time and must not silence their voice.
In this way, the unjustified and politicized decision of the managers of the Frankfurt exhibition provoked a wave of criticism and opposition from the leading cultural activists of the world, until an unprecedented statement with 600 signatures was issued condemning it. Frankfurt is known for two things in the field of culture. One to his annual book exhibition, which is the biggest and most universal event in the field of books; And the other is the philosophical and critical school of Frankfurt, which is one of the pioneers of criticizing cultural exclusivity. The thinkers of the Frankfurt School, in their intellectual and epistemological project, exposed the authoritarian and xenophobic thinking of modernity to criticism and considered the main flaw of modernity to be European-oriented and Western-oriented. I wish a wind of influence would come from the Frankfurt school to the Frankfurt book fair and respect for the “other” would become its focus once again.
NOURNEWS