Campaign group Book Workers for a Free Palestine holds vigil outside LBF

A vigil for Palestinian writers was held outside the 2024 London Book Fair (LBF) on Tuesday 12th March, organised by the groups Book Workers for a Free Palestine and Publishers for Palestine.

Authors and journalists including Nikesh Shukla, Nadifa Mohamed, Ahmed Masoud, Shon Faye, Sarah Shaffi and Salena Godden were among those who spoke and read at the event, in both Arabic and English. “This London Book Fair, we seek to honour those lost in the genocide – including the at least 178 writers, journalists, scholars, thinkers and poets – and in their memory, we call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire,” Shaffi said in her opening remarks. 

The vigil was held separately from the main fair, which was taking place inside Olympia London. In a statement, its organisers criticised LBF’s “extensive programme” for featuring only two sessions that referred to Palestine. Both of these events have been organised by English PEN, with one entitled "Palestine, Israel, and Free Expression in the UK".

Faye read an excerpt from the work of British-Palestinian author Isabella Hammad, while Palestinian writer Masoud spoke about losing his brother and a friend during the war. “Every single day has been absolutely painful. I don’t know what I’m going to wake up to every time I go to bed, I don’t sleep,” he said. 

“One of the things that has pained me so much as an author who wrote about Gaza – all of my work is set in Gaza, my novels and my plays – is actually the loss of that beautiful place, that city that I love so much.” Masoud, who grew up in Gaza, said he started writing poetry for the first time after the war started. He wrote a poem for his brother, and one for the city – which he read during the vigil. 

“As a coalition of book workers, our focus is on the cultural impact of the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” one of the organisers – who wishes to remain anonymous – told The Bookseller at the gathering. “We are standing against the destruction of cultural heritage, the bombing of universities, libraries and schools, the targeting of journalists and the silencing of critical reporting in Gaza.” 

Of the writers who have been killed, the organiser added: “We will never know what they would have written if they had lived. They deserve to be remembered.” 

The Bookseller has approached LBF for comment.