On the 11^th of March, groups of Napier students took the five-hour journey down to London for the much-anticipated London Book Fair. We had been told all about how excited the attendees would be to see and hear from students so were genuinely excited to meet representatives of the publishing industry and hear what they had to say.  In addition to this we had also been told all about the various panels we could have the opportunity to listen to and possibly speak at in the way of questions. One which I personally was very excited about was put on by the English PEN, entitled Free Expression and Protecting the Right to Dissent which the programme stated would “explore the need for free expression […] and the importance of platforming different viewpoints…” (London Book Fair, 2024)The panellists did do a great job of providing different points of view from different parts of the industry and their reasoning; the panel included a playwright, a publishing director and the previous director of the Edinburgh Book Festival while being headed by the vice chair of English PEN. However, despite this, there was an air of dissatisfaction amongst the audience, as it seemed that the views being expressed, namely by Nick Barley, who stated that he believed it important to have both sides of a conflict able to sit on a panel together and express their views, using the example of Russia and the Ukraine. An audience member made their dissatisfaction clear when she took this example and explained that she was aware of a Ukrainian writer who had done just that and was subsequently targeted by Russian forces, ending in her passing. Instead of responding as she obviously wanted, with a change of heart and an understanding of those who do not wish to converse with their oppressors, Barley instead reiterated his belief in the right to silence for those in power, citing a fear of saying the wrong thing which may reflect badly on himself or those whom he represents, which Hannah Knowles agreed with. It was clear that Guy Gunaratne, the final panellist, wholeheartedly disagreed with the direction the panel was taking as shown by the fact that he seemed to be on his phone for part of the end of the panel and then only broke his silence to announce the vigil being held outside of the building.

Seeing my own dissatisfaction reflected in this panellist, I decided, along with some other audience members, to join them at the vigil. It had been organised by Book Workers for a Free Palestine in conjunction with Publishers for Palestine to “honour those lost in the genocide – including 178 writers, journalists, scholars, thinkers, and poets” (The Bookseller Editorial Team, 2024). It was also done in reaction to the fact that, despite having an incredibly diverse programme, only two sessions referred to Palestine explicitly, and only one, named Palestine, Israel, and Free Expression in the UK, unashamedly stated their pro-Palestinian stance. Instead of the expected sea of banners and posters, I walked to the vigil to find an array of kites each with a line from Refaat Alareer’s poem ‘If I Must Die’, written just before his death at the hands of an Israeli airstrike in these most recent attacks (Haq, 2023) and posters with the names and faces of several prominent writers who had lost their lives since 7^th October. The speakers all stood in the rain in front of the gathering, with a single Palestinian flag behind them and no umbrellas to shield them, just poetry in plastic wallets. The irony of these activists protecting the words they read from the weather rather than themselves was not lost on us, all that could be done to protect and preserve these words was done with the speakers showing little regard for their own comfort. Stories were told of what Gaza once was; a place of beauty, art and, culture, and then of what the people of Gaza became in the wake of the attacks; martyrs, mourners, children who missed their mothers.

Bibliography

Haq, S. N., 2023. Prominent Gaza professor and writer killed in airstrike, weeks after telling CNN he and his family had ‘nowhere else to go’. [Online]
Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/11/middleeast/refaat-alareer-gaza-professor-killed-in-airstrike-intl/index.html
[Accessed 20 March 2024].

London Book Fair, 2024. Free Expression and Protecting the Right to Dissent. [Online]
Available at: https://www.londonbookfair.co.uk/en-gb/whats-on/seminar-programme/programme/session-details.3614.214616.free-expression-and-protecting-the-right-to-dissent.html
[Accessed 20 March 2024].

The Bookseller Editorial Team, 2024. Campaign group Book Workers for a Free Palestine holds vigil outside LBF. [Online]
Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/campaign-group-book-workers-for-a-free-palestine-holds-vigil-outside-lbf
[Accessed 20 March 2024].