Publishers bolt book fair after award to Palestinian author scrapped

Arab publishers have pulled out of the 75th Frankfurt Book Fair after organizers scrapped the awarding rite for a Palestinian author in reaction to the Hamas attack on Israel.

Organizers of the world's biggest publishing trade event running from Wednesday to Sunday denounced the Palestinian militants' "barbaric" assault and rushed to reorganize the schedule, pledging Israeli voices would feature prominently in the event.

Litprom, which gives out the honor each year at the fair, said they had decided not to go ahead with the awarding of the LiBeraturpreis to Adania Shibli for her book "A Minor Detail" due to the war started by Hamas.

The fair "stands with complete solidarity on the side of Israel," director Juergen Boos said in a statement.

The group said in a statement that it was looking for a "suitable format and setting for the event at a later point," while insisting that: "Awarding the prize to Adania Shibli was never in question."

Shibli's book is based on the real events of a 1949 rape and murder by Israeli soldiers.

An open letter released Monday with over 600 signatories including high-profile authors, publishers and literary agents, condemned the move.

Postponing the award amounted to "closing out the space for a Palestinian voice," the letter, whose signatories included Nobel Prize for Literature Abdulrazak Gurnah and Olga Tokarczuk, said.

"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," it added.

Some Arab publishing industry groups announced at the weekend they were pulling out of the fair.

These included the Sharjah Book Authority from the United Arab Emirates, Emirates Publishers Association and Arab Publishers' Association in Egypt.