Frankfurt Book Fair postpones award for Palestinian author

Palestinian author Adania Shibli was meant to accept the "LiBeraturpreis" of the LitProm association on October 20 at the Frankfurt Book Fair, which honours women writers from the Global South for a work newly published in German. Shibli's novel Minor Detail received high praise from some critics.

Its English translation, by Elisabeth Jaquette, was published in 2020 and was shortlisted for the 2020 National Book Award for Translated Literature, and longlisted for the International Booker Prize the following year. But others criticized it harshly for what they saw as serving antisemitic narratives.

The Zurich newspaper Tagesanzeiger asked, "In these times, can a novel that depicts Israel as a killing machine be honoured with awards?" The paper gets to the heart of the debate unfolding in the run-up to the world's largest trade fair for books: How should literature be dealt with that "allegedly brings anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiment into the cultural scene"?

After scenes of pro-Hamas jubilant celebrations on Berlin's streets over the weekend, the German daily newspaper taz was also critical. "Instead of baklava for passers-by who rejoice at the deaths of Israeli civilians," the paper writes, "Prizes are also awarded to works that portray the state of Israel as a murder machine, to the applause of perhaps well-meaning donors."

In its statement announcing the award, the LitProm association said that Shibli's novel was a "rigorously composed work of art that tells of the power of borders and of what violent conflicts make of people."

Born in 1974, Adania Shibli lives and works in both Berlin and Jerusalem. The Palestinian author is currently the Writer-in-Residence at the Literaturhaus Zurich, and in 2021, she held the Friedrich Dürrenmatt Guest Professorship for World Literature at the University of Bern, Switzerland.

Her novel Minor Detail is made up of two parts. The first tells of a Palestinian girl who is raped and murdered in the Negev Desert during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. 

Author agreed to canceling award ceremony

In the meantime, the LitProm association has responded to the latest developments: "Due to the war in Israel," it was decided "along with the author" to cancel the planned award ceremony at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the association writes on its website. "No one feels like celebrating at the moment," the statement added. 

However, the association for the promotion of literature from Africa, Asia and Latin America added that it still wants to award its prize to Adania Shibli's novel Minor Detail, despite the criticism. The authors' association PEN Berlin had earlier commented on the criticism of the book. "No book becomes different, better, worse or more dangerous because the news situation changes," said PEN Berlin spokeswoman Eva Menasse.