FBF's Boos makes new statement on Israel-Gaza conflict 'to dispel misunderstandings'

Juergen Boos, director of Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF), has made a new statement of the fair’s position on the Israel-Gaza conflict "to dispel false reports and misunderstandings", this time emphasising his sympathy with innocent people in both Israel and Palestine.

A number of Arab organisations, including the Arab Publishers Association, the Emirates Publishers Association and the Sharjah Book Fair, withdrew from this year’s event following an earlier statement from FBF which described Hamas’ attacks as a "barbaric terror war against Israel" and said FBF would give Israeli and Jewish voices additional time on its stages. This led to accusations that the fair has taken a one-sided approach to events. Also highly controversial was a decision to cancel a prize ceremony at the fair for the Palestinian author Adania Shibli for her book Minor Detail (Fitzcarraldo). The decision was taken by organiser Litprom, which is distinct from FBF, although Boos is its president.

In a new statement, Boos said: "We are sad to see that some exhibitors from the Arab region withdrew their participation in this year’s fair. To dispel false reports and misunderstandings that may have arisen in the past days: millions of innocent people in Israel and in Palestine are affected by this war, and our sympathy goes out to all of them. We truly hope that ways can be found to bring them out of this violence.

"Frankfurter Buchmesse stands for the peaceful encounter of people from all over the world. With people from more than 100 countries coming together in Frankfurt every year, the book fair has always been about humanity and its focus has always been on peaceful and democratic discourse.”

On Monday (16th October) the Indonesian Publishers Association (Ikapi) became the latest to pull out of the fair. Ikapi was previously scheduled to be present as part of the activities of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research & Technology of the Republic of Indonesia to promote Indonesian national culture. Ikapi confirmed it had “cancelled participation in the 2023 Frankfurt Book Fair, failed to attend the opening ceremony, and cancelled several events”.

Chairman Arys Hilman Nugraha said Ikapi “rejects the Frankfurt Book Fair’s stance of supporting and giving a wider stage to Israel at this year’s exhibition while denying the Palestinian people’s right to independence”. The organisation also criticised the cancellation of Shibli’s prize ceremony.

The Malaysian Book Publishers Association also expressed its “deepest disappointment with the recent statement by the organisers of the Frankfurt Book Fair, who have taken sides in a war that has caused countless civilian casualties for many years.” It added: “Book fairs should provide a neutral platform, and humanity should be celebrated through books and stories from all sides. Let books do the talking." Malaysia’s education ministry pulled out of the fair entirely accusing the organisers of taking a pro-Israel stance. 

Meanwhile major UK publishing figures were among the signatories of an open letter in support of Shibli and Palestinian literary voices. Shibli’s UK publisher, Jacques Testard of Fitzcarraldo, said: “One of the purposes of literature is to encourage understanding and dialogue between cultures. At a time of such horrific violence and heartbreak, the world’s biggest book fair has a duty to champion literary voices from Palestine and Israel. We stand in solidarity with Adania Shibli and her German publishers, Berenberg Verlag.”

The letter was also signed by Shibli’s agent Peter Straus at RCW, as well as Jamie Byng, publisher at Canongate, Mary Mount, publisher at Picador, Stefan Tober, publisher at And Other Stories, Ra Page and Basma Ghalayini, publishers at Comma Press, Jason Arthur, associate publishing director at Granta Books, and Kishani Widyaratna, publisher at Fourth Estate.

Straus confirmed to The Bookseller that Shibli had not, as first claimed, given her consent to the cancellation of the award ceremony at FBF. Straus said his understanding was that Litprom "presented her with their decision on the ceremony and falsely claimed it was a joint decision". Litprom has said it is "looking for a suitable format and setting for the event at a later point".