Deċizjoni inaċċettabbli li ġie rtirat il-premju letterarju għal Adania Shibli
Text in English below.
Inizjamed, PEN Malta u Fondazzjoni HELA jsemmgħu leħinhom kontra r-revokazzjoni inaċċettabbli tal-premju letterarju Ġermaniż lil Adania Shibli, kittieba Palestinjana li r-rumanz tagħha Minor Detail kellu jiġi ppremjat nhar l-20 ta’ Ottubru.
Fi żmien meta għandna ħtieġa li nisimgħu iktar, u mhux inqas, vuċijiet Palestinjani u ġrajjiethom dwar l-għeruq tal-kawża tal-katastrofi preżenti f’Gaża u f’Iżrael, id-deċiżjoni li ttieħdet mill-Fiera tal-Ktieb ta’ Frakfurt (Frankfurt Book Fair), li jħassru l-premju mogħti lil Shibli, hija moralment żbaljata u offiża diretta lejn il-valur li nħaddnu b’qawwa, dak tal-libertà tal-kelma. Aħna nagħtu l-appoġġ tagħna lil sħabna ta’ PEN Berlin li saħqu hekk: “Ebda ktieb ma jsir differenti, aħjar, agħar jew iżjed perikoluż għax il-qagħda tal-aħbarijiet tinbidel … Ktieb, jew ħaqqu premju, jew le … Li jittiħdilha l-premju huwa fundamentalment ħażin, kemm minn lenti politika kif ukoll minn lenti letterarja.”
Inizjamed, PEN Malta u Fondazzjoni HELA jikkundannaw kull tip ta’ vjolenza. Minkejja li dan mhux żmien iċ-ċelebrazzjonijiet, ir-revokazzjoni ta’ premju bħal dan tkompli tissilenzja u tmewwet lill-Palestinjani u ġrajjiethom, li kienu suġġetti għall-vjolenza minn sistema diskriminatorja u oppressiva għal deċenji sħaħ.
Il-premju kien mogħti mill-assoċjazzjoni LitProm, l-assoċjazzjoni letterarja Ġermaniża responsabbli għall-premju. LiBeraturpreis huwa premju Ġermaniż mogħti kull sena lill-kittieba mill-Afrika, l-Asja, l-Amerika Latina u d-dinja Għarbija matul il-Fiera tal-Ktieb ta’ Frankfurt, waħda mill-ikbar fieri globali tal-industrija tal-pubblikazzjoni.
Adania Shibli hija kittieba Palestinjana li kitbet rumanzi, drammi, novelli u esejs narrattivi. Rebħet il-Qattan Young Writer’s Award – Palestine darbtejn: darba fl-2001 bir-rumanz tagħha Masaas (Al-Adab, 2002; tradott bħala Touch, Clockroot, 2009) u darb’oħra fl-2003 b’Kulluna Ba’id bethat al Miqdar aan el-Hub (Al-Adab, 2002; tradott bħala We Are All Equally Far from Love, Clockroot, 2012). L-iktar rumanz reċenti tagħha Tafsil Thanawi (Al-Adab, 2017, tradott bħala Minor Detail, Fitzcarraldo Edition/UK, u New Directions/USA, 2020) kien fil-lista qasira għall-Premju Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb fl-2020 u fl-2021 kien nominat għall-International Booker Prize. Fl-2022, Minor Detail kien ippubblikat minn Berenberg Verlag, il-Ġermanja, bl-isem Eine Nebensache.
Skont id-Deutsche Welle, l-assoċjazzjoni LitProm saħqet li r-rumanz kien “xogħol artistiku kompost b’mod rigoruż li jirrakkonta l-qawwa tal-fruntieri u xi jseħħ minn nies fil-konfront ta’ kunflitt vjolenti” u għalhekk kienet se tippremjaha b’unur li jingħata lil kittieba nisa mis-Sud Globali għal xogħlijiet li għadhom kemm ġew ippubblikati bl-ilsien Ġermaniż. Dan il-premju qatt ma kien nieqes mill-kontroversji li f’dan il-każ żdiedu fid-dawl tal-aħħar bumbardamenti li bdew f’Ottubru.
Adania Shibli kienet mistiedna għall-Festival Mediterranju tal-Letteratura ta’ Malta 2023 fl-aħħar ta’ Awwissu f’Forti Sant’Iermu, il-Belt. Il-kittieba kienet intervistata minn Adrian Grima u tkellmet primarjament dwar l-istorja qasira “Dal-baħar ta’ Muħammed al-Kħatib” (trad. Simone Inguanez), kif ukoll dwar xogħlijiet notorji oħra tagħha. Ir-rakkont ta’ Shibli jiffoka fuq il-ġrajja ta’ Muħammed al-Kħatib, il-Palestinjani okkupati fuq il-Bank tal-Punent ta’ Gaża, dawk maqbudin f’Gaża u x-xenqa tagħhom għall-baħar. Shibli, fost aspetti oħra, iddiskutiet il-qawwa tal-lingwi u l-maġija tal-ilsien Għarbi li jagħti vuċi lil ġrajjietha.
Adania Shibli. Ritratt ta’/Photo by Hartwig Klappert.
Do not cancel Palestinian authors
Revocation of Adania Shibli’s literary award is an unacceptable injustice
Inizjamed, PEN Malta and HELA Foundation voice their protest against the unacceptable revocation of a German literary award to Adania Shibli, a Palestinian-born writer whose novel Minor Detail was meant to be awarded on 20 October.
At a time when we need to hear more, not less Palestinian voices and stories of the root causes of the ongoing catastrophe in Gaza and in Israel, the decision by the Frankfurt Book Fair to cancel the award to Shibli is morally wrong and a direct affront to our strongly held value of freedom of speech. We stand by our colleagues at PEN Berlin which said: “No book becomes different, better, worse or more dangerous because the news situation changes … Either a book is worthy of an award, or it is not … To withdraw the prize from her would be fundamentally wrong, from a political as well as a literary standpoint.”
Inizjamed, PEN Malta and HELA Foundation condemn all kinds of violence. While this is not the time to celebrate, the revocation of such a prize continues to silence and nullify the Palestinians and their stories, who have been subjected to violence from an oppressive and discriminatory system for decades.
The award was given by LitProm association, the German literary association responsible for the prize. LiBeraturpreis is a German literature prize awarded each year to a writer from Africa, Asia, Latin America, or the Arab world during the Frankfurt Book Fair, one of the largest publishing industry gatherings on a global scale.
Adania Shibli is a Palestinian-born writer who has penned novels, plays, short stories, and narrative essays. She has twice been awarded the Qattan Young Writer’s Award-Palestine in 2001 for her novel Masaas (Al-Adab, 2002; translated as Touch, Clockroot, 2009), and in 2003 for her novel Kulluna Ba’id bethat al Miqdar aan el-Hub (Al-Adab, 2002; translated as We Are All Equally Far from Love, Clockroot, 2012). Her latest is the novel Tafsil Thanawi (Al-Adab, 2017, translated as Minor Detail, Fitzcarraldo Edition/UK, and New Directions/USA, 2020), which was shortlisted for the National Book Award in 2020, and in 2021 it was nominated for the International Booker Prize. In 2022, Minor Detail was published by Berenberg Verlag in Germany as Eine Nebensache.
As quoted by Deutsche Welle, LitProm association claims that Shibli’s novel was a “rigorously composed work of art that tells of the power of borders and of what violent conflicts make of people” and thus was going to award her with a prize that honours women writers from the Global South for newly published works in the German language. This prize was never short of controversy heightened by the current bombings which started this October.Adania Shibli was a guest writer at the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival 2023 held last August in Fort St Elmo, Valletta. The writer was interviewed by Adrian Grima and spoke about the short story “This Sea is Mohammad al-Khatib’s” as well as her other notable novels. Shibli’s story focuses on Mohammad al-Khatib, the Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank, those imprisoned in Gaza, and their longing for the sea altogether. Shibli, amongst other aspects, touched upon the power of languages and the magic of the Arabic languages which gives voice to her stories.
