Last week the literary association Litprom canceled a celebration for the Palestinian author Adania Shibli’s book “Minor Detail” at the Frankfurt Book Fair, one of the publishing world’s biggest international book fairs. A panel that Shibli, who splits her time between Jerusalem and Berlin, was to be on with her German translator, Günther Orth, was likewise canceled. Others may side with Hamas or with the Palestinian people, now under fire by Israeli forces. But taking a side in a war does not require taking positions on a work of fiction — no matter the subject matter or the author’s nationality — and that is the effect of the fair organizers’ decision. Canceling a celebration of an author may not be the same thing as banning a book, but the organizers’ decision amounts to demonizing a fiction writer and stifling her viewpoint.

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Persons: Litprom, Adania, International Booker, Günther Orth, “, Israel ”, Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Organizations: International Locations: Frankfurt, Jerusalem, Berlin, Israel, Palestinian