The cancellation of an event intended to honor Palestinian author Adania Shibli at the Frankfurt Book Fair has sparked controversy. Notably, the 2023 LiBeraturpreis, an award recognizing outstanding women authors from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, was set to be presented to Shibli during the book fair, which is scheduled to take place in Frankfurt, Germany, from October 18 to 22.

Shibli was to be recognized for her 2017 novel, “Minor Detail,” which delves into the alleged atrocities committed by Israeli military personnel against a Bedouin girl in 1949.

However, the decision to celebrate Shibli and host panel discussions featuring her was reversed by Litprom, a literary association, following an attack on October 7 by Hamas fighters in southern Israel. Shibli’s work has also faced allegations of “anti-Semitism” from some quarters.

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In response to this cancellation, over 350 authors, including prominent figures like Irish novelist Colm Tóibín, American-Libyan Pulitzer Prize winner Hisham Matar, British-Pakistani novelist Kamila Shamsie, and British historian William Dalrymple, came together to sign an open letter. The letter criticizes the organizers of the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world’s largest trade fair of its kind, asserting that they have a responsibility to provide a platform for Palestinian writers to express their thoughts and reflections on literature during challenging times, rather than silencing them.

About Adania Shibli:

Adania Shibli, born in 1974, holds a Ph.D. from the University of East London in Media and Cultural Studies, with a dissertation titled “Visual Terror: A Study of the Visual Compositions of the 9/11 Attacks and Major Attacks in the ‘War on Terror’ by British and French Television Networks.” She has also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin.

Shibli’s career in academia includes teaching at the University of Nottingham and, since 2013, working as a part-time professor in the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies at Birzeit University in Palestine.

Shibli divides her time between Jerusalem and Berlin, and she is proficient in Arabic, English, Hebrew, French, Korean, and German.