Cancellation of Award Ceremony for Palestinian Author Adania Shibli at the Frankfurt Book Fair by Litprom e.V.

On October 13, 2023, German literary association, Litprom, announced the cancellation of the October 20th ceremony that was to be held as a celebration of Palestinian novelist Adania Shibli’s winning of the 2023 LiBeraturpreis, an annual award for women authors from the Global South. As the reason for this decision, they referred to “the war started by Hamas, under which millions of people in Israel and Palestine are suffering.” Shibli was to be honored at the Frankfurt Book fair for her book Minor Detail, a novel which focuses on the Nakba and well-documented atrocities committed by the Israeli army during the founding of the state of Israel. The decision to cancel the event was made without the author's consent, who had intended to use the ceremony to "reflect on the role of literature in these difficult and painful times.''

Over 1000 literary figures signed an open letter in support of Shibli and in opposition to the book fair's decision to silence an important Palestinian voice when it was needed the most. They stated, “The Frankfurt Book Fair has a responsibility, as a major international book fair, to be creating spaces for Palestinian writers to share their thoughts, feelings, reflections on literature through these terrible, cruel times, not shutting them down.”

As of today, Litprom has not announced a new date for the award ceremony. In addition to postponing the award ceremony of Adania Shibli, the Frankfurt Book Fair stated their full solidarity with Israel and their intention to create more spaces for Israeli and Jewish voices during the book fair. This cancellation was one of the first in a series of cancellations that occurred in Germany following the attacks of October 7. While the world is witnessing the real-time genocide in Gaza, German authorities – both political and cultural – made this fact very clear: There will be no place for Palestinian voices and advocacy in Germany.