FBF and FEP condemn Hamas attacks

The Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF) and the Federation of European Publishers (FEP) have condemned the recent Hamas attacks against Israel, with FBF saying Israel will be one of the "main topics in focus" at this year’s event. However publishing figures based in Israel told The Bookseller they expect few to want to leave their homeland to attend next week’s fair. Many international airlines have also suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv.

Violence in the Middle East has dominated the news since Hamas—a terrorist organisation—entered communities in Israel at the weekend, killing at least 1,200 people and taking dozens of hostages. Israel has responded by bombing Gaza, killing more than 1,000 people in air strikes, and cutting off supplies of electricity, fuel and water.

In a statement, Frankfurt Book Fair said: “Frankfurter Buchmesse abhors Hamas’ terror against Israel. Our sympathy goes out to the people who are under siege and whose relatives are also victims of this extreme violence. We condemn the terror against Israel, and we condemn those who finance this terror and thereby make it possible."

The organisation said there were "special events being planned" for the fair, including performances by Israeli singers Liraz and Rita Yahan-Farouz in the Frankfurt Pavilion and on the Frankfurt International Stage. "We hope that this will still be possible despite the difficult situation in Israel," organisers said. "On our cultural-political stage, the Frankfurt Pavilion, Israel will be one of the topics in focus – with speakers such as Meron Mendel from the Anne Frank Educational Institution, among others.”

Meanwhile Richardo Franco Levi, president of the Federation of European Publishers (FEP), said in a statement: “European publishers condemn firmly the terrorist attacks committed by Hamas. Books should be the vehicle of peace and democracy everywhere in the world and we call on our fellow publishers to support peace with the means they have; books contributing to build empathy between people. FEP has written to the Israeli Publishers Association to ensure them of their solidarity in these dire times.”

José Borghino, secretary general for the International Publishers Association (IPA), said: "More killing, more loss, another generation who will remember the atrocities. Humanity is poorer for our inability to resolve these long-standing conflicts. We extend our sincere hope to our publishing colleagues, and everyone in the region, that hostilities will cease as soon as possible."

Benjamin Trivaks, chairman of The Book Publishers Association Of Israel, told The Bookseller: “In light of the war in Israel, as far as I know all the Israeli publishers and agents who had planned to attend Frankfurt will be cancelling.” 

“Many stores, including bookstores, are currently closed or open for only limited hours and people are mostly staying home watching the news. Many people are also out volunteering.  The publishers in the association are organizing donations of books – mainly children’s books – to the survivors of the massacres in southern Israel” he said. 

“The members of the association, in conjunction with the leading retailers, have also decided to delay the launch of new books which had been planned for November, until a later date to be determined. Israel has called its reserves so many employees at the publishers are now in active duty.”  

Ziv Lewis, head of foreign rights and acquisitions at Kinneret Zmora Publishing House, Israel’s largest trade publishing house, told The Bookseller Frankfurt was “looking unlikely” for him at this point. “I feel my place is here with my family.”

He said: “I’ve done over 35 Frankfurts (lost count!) and I can just imagine 50 meetings being asked about the war and not discussing books. As far as I know almost all local publishers and agents are cancelling their trip. We did a Zoom-based fair in 2020 and we can survive with that. Of course, it’s an event we all look forward to and build our calendar around and I will miss seeing very close dear friends and colleagues.”

He described Hamas’ attacks as an “unprecedented horror and a colossal failure on so many levels: political: intelligence, operational; media”. He added: “This is a momentous moment in our history and not since the Holocaust have so many Jews been murdered in a single day. The hostage situation is unimaginable for Israel. Thousands will die in the next few weeks/months and the collective trauma for Israel is unfathomable. I’ve never felt so angry in my life.”

Literary scout Lucy Abrahams, who moved to Tel Aviv six years ago, told The Bookseller she imagines the number of Israeli publishers and agents in Frankfurt "will be zero". "They have faced an unprecedented, barbaric massacre, with more Jews killed in a single day than any since the Holocaust. They are now at war. Even if they could get a flight, and there are no flights, all their children and relatives are being called up to fight. Every single person in Israel personally knows someone who was murdered or kidnapped this week. No one is unaffected."

Agent Deborah Harris, based in Jerusalem, said: "We are burying our dead, mourning our losses, families going out of their minds as they wait to hear the fate of their loved ones. Almost everyone at our agency has a son, brother, family member who has been called up and is now on the northern or southern front. Unfathomable."

She added: "And yet, despite the cancellation of flights, we have two intrepid agents – Rena Rossner and Ksenia Tserkovskaya  -- who are aiming to participate in the Frankfurt Fair. Will they get there? I hope they do. To represent our catalogue of Israeli literature. To be part of normative, literary life, at a time when all human boundaries have been crossed."

Israeli author Noa Yedlin told The Bookseller: "Most bookstores are closed. Publishing houses have stopped printing – most printing houses are located in the bombarded south anyway, and the workers have gone to war. Literary editors are trying to work from home, preparing notes for books which are meant for an imaginary, unknown future. The books’ storage rooms have been turned into improvises delivery centers, sending off childrens’ books to survivors. No author is writing anything, except for ‘sorry for your loss’. In the past four days, I have probably written more ‘sorry for your loss’ than I have in my entire life. Will I ever be able to write something different? To write a story about people, who are anything but sorrow-stricken?"

Jonny Geller, c.e.o. at Curtis Brown, also commented: "There is hardly a single member of the Jewish community in UK who does not know someone or has a relative directly affected by the atrocities of the weekend. The publishing community should come together in solidarity and in support of the Jewish community and Israeli publishers.”

Updates to follow