Readers flock to Shibli’s Minor Detail

Fitzcarraldo has reported that 1,500 people on the first day alone took advantage of its move to make the e-book of Adania Shibli’s Minor Detail free to download for the duration of Frankfurt Book Fair. Final figures for the novel’s downloads throughout the fair are not yet available.

Meanwhile the book has now spread to TikTok, with BookTok creator Hana Aisha launching a readathon on the platform to encourage users to read the novel.

The Palestinian-born author Shibli was due to be recognised at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF) 2023 with the LiBeraturpreis award, an annual prize given to female writers from Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Arab world. The ceremony was cancelled by organiser Litprom, the German literary association – which is distinct from FBF, although shares the same president Juergen Boos – due to the Israel-Gaza conflict.

The move was widely criticised, with Shibli’s publisher Fitzcarraldo, which first brought out the book in a translation by Elisabeth Jaquette in 2020, making its edition free to download in e-book during the fair in response to the cancellation.

More than 350 authors including Colm Tóibín, Hisham Matar and Kamila Shamsie signed an open letter in support of Shibli and Palestinian literary voices. 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.”

Clare Bogen, publicity director at Fitzcarraldo, commented: “We are heartened by the support that has been shown for Adania Shibli and that her important and powerful novel is being read by more people."

BookTokker Aisha told The Bookseller that by organising a readathon for Minor Detail she is "hoping to humanise the cost of colonialism and the reality of living under occupation". She added: "The plight of the Palestinian people was a story my mother told me and her mother told her. I am using my platform to tell the story to as many people who are willing to hear it as possible.”

The readathon will run from 22nd October to 4th November. During the two weeks, BookTok creators and users can join a collective reading and posting about Minor Detail.

At the time of writing a video by Aisha has received 12,900 views and the readathon hashtag #readingisresistance has garnered 234,600 views. In a video in support of the readathon, one BookTokker explained: “We can all come together as a community and read Minor Detail [...] It is a great stepping stone for you to incorporate some Palestinian literature into your current reading.”  

Holly McLoughlin, a BookTok creator who will be taking part in the readathon, commented how the readathon "is a great way for people who are overwhelmed by the amount of information and books being recommended to find a good starting point, especially since it’ll be a community reading the book together, and creating space for questions [that] they may have no other place to ask".

Speaking more generally about how BookTok can support authors, McLoughlin said: "The best way to support authors is to read and share their work in all of the spaces you can. Publicly talking about and recommending their books, including them in videos, and telling people why they need to be picking up these books."