Turkish author Elif Shafak warns against growing apathy towards suffering in Gaza at Frankfurt Book Fair

Event returns after facing criticism last year over stance on war in the besieged enclave

Turkish author Elif Shafak at the opening press conference of the Frankfurt International Book Fair. She says writers can 'keep the flame of peace and human dignity alive'. AFP

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Elif Shafak cautioned against complacency when expressing solidarity with those suffering in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine.

Speaking at the launch of the Frankfurt International Book Fair in Germany, the Turkish author – renowned for her bestselling novel The Forty Rules of Love – remarked on how escalating violence in those countries can, in part, be attributed to growing public fatigue and apathy towards enduring conflicts.

“The moment we stop talking about what's happening in Gaza, in Ukraine, in Sudan, that’s when we lose our humanity,” she said. "The only emotion that really, really frightens me is the absence of all emotions, which is numbness and apathy. And I believe this world we are living in will become a much more dangerous and broken place if this age of angst were to become an age of apathy.

"The moment we stop caring, the moment we stop writing and the moment we stop talking about what's happening in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan today, is the moment we become desensitised and indifferent."

She notes that literature and authors can play a role in galvanising people or warning them against injustice and promoting coexistence. "Writers cannot stop wars. We cannot even stop hatred. But what we can do is keep the flame of peace and human dignity alive," she said.

"Anyone whose story has been erased, pushed to the margins, or forgotten – our pens and hearts organically move in that direction. The power of literature brings the periphery to the centre, and it has the ability to rehumanise people who have been dehumanised."

To preserve literature's role as a unifying force, Shafak says writers must become "memory keepers". That role that requires curiosity and keen self-awareness, especially when technology has made information available with almost disconcerting speed and ease.

“We live in a world in which we have way too much information, but little knowledge and even less wisdom, and I think we need to change that ratio," she said. "What's happening is snippets of information rain on us every single day as we scroll up and down. Our social media feeds more our habits than anything else. We have no time to process and no time to absorb, and we have no time to feel what we see. Hyperinformation gives us the illusion of knowledge when the truth is we have long forgotten how to say, ‘I don't know.'

“For true knowledge, not information, we have to slow down, because it cannot be rushed. We need to listen to each other and we need cultural spaces such as literary festivals, slow journalism and books. And for wisdom, I think we need to bring the heart into our work.

"We need to build emotional intelligence and empathy for wisdom, and literature can do that. Now, I'm not claiming that we writers are wise people. Surely we are not. But what I am claiming is, when we write fiction we connect with something that is bigger than us, older than us and definitely wiser than us.”

Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek speaks during the opening ceremony of the Frankfurt International Book Fair in 2023. Photo: Marc Jacquemin / Frankfurter Buchmesse

Running until Sunday, the book fair returns after last year’s event was criticised due to its stance on the Israeli-Gaza war. Arab publishing bodies and organisations, led by the Sharjah Book Authority, withdrew from the festival after a planned award for Palestinian author Adania Shibli was scrapped. The decision prompted Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek to call the cancellation "scandalous", during his keynote address at last year’s opening ceremony gala.

While not addressing last year’s event directly during Tuesday’s press conference, book fair director Juergen Boos said the latest programme would feature potent discussions surrounding the wars in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine.

On Friday, the German branch of Amnesty International will host a discussion examining the German government's reportedly strong-handed response to expressions of solidarity with Palestinians during the war, in the public sphere and among civil servants.

On Saturday, there will be a session with Palestine's former culture minister and novelist Atef Abu Saif, where he will discuss the future prospects of his homeland. Meanwhile, Sunday’s closing events will include a panel on Sudanese women’s literature in the face of the civil war.