Because Kamila Shamsie has participated in boycott calls against Israel, the city of Dortmund will not award her the Nelly Sachs Prize. The jury has withdrawn its decision announced last week to award the literary prize to the Pakistani-British writer, the city said.
The Nelly Sachs Prize honors writers who stand up for "tolerance, respect and reconciliation" and for a peaceful coexistence. Originally, Shamsie was to receive the award for her literary output, building bridges between cultures. However, the author advocates the controversial BDS movement, which wants to isolate Israel politically, economically, culturally and scientifically. Shamsie refuses to publish in Israel. This cites the website of the BDS campaign from a letter Shamsies to an Israeli publisher.
The jury did not know that before their decision, the city of Dortmund announced after the election. The jury members met again last week to rethink the award. Their result: The political positioning of Shamsie stands in clear contradiction to the objectives of the award ceremony and the spirit of the Nelly Sachs Prize. We regret the situation, said the city.
The award is endowed with 15,000 euros and should first be awarded on 8 December. However, no other prizewinner is named for this year, according to the announcement. The award should be given in rotation again in 2021.
Past winners include Margaret Atwood, Rafik Schami, Christa Wolf and Milan Kundera.