MCLC: London Book Fair criticized

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: martin winter (dujuan99 at gmail.com)
Subject: London Book Fair criticized
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There is also a BBC report on this issue:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/entertainment-arts-17449472
They plan to report more on this today. I have quoted Elfriede Jelinek's
reaction on my blog (http://erguotou.wordpress.com
<http://erguotou.wordpress.com/>)

Martin

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Source: The Guardian (3/20/12):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/20/london-book-fair-chinese-writer
s?newsfeed=true

London Book Fair criticised for inviting only state-approved Chinese
writers
Exiled Chinese poet Bei Ling says he is 'amazed no independent voice, no
exiled or dissident writer' is being represented

The London Book Fair is facing claims it has bowed to pressure from
Chinese authorities by failing to invite dissident and exiled writers to
next month's event and choosing only state-approved authors.

Bei Ling, an exiled poet and essayist, has written to the British Council,
the organisers of the cultural programme of the fair, which is one of the
biggest international publishing events in the world, expressing his
surprise over its plans to host Chinese state-approved writers and
organisations.

"I was amazed that no independent voice, no exiled or dissident writer
from China is being represented at the London Book Fair," he told the
Guardian, accusing the fair, which is focusing on China this year, of
self-censorship to keep Chinese authorities on board.

"It is shocking enough that the book fair has worked with Gapp (General
Administration of Press and Publication, the agency responsible for
regulating publications in China). In order to ensure that their guest
country was happy they exercised self-censorship and didn't push for
other, non-state-approved writers, although without them you don't get a
full picture of literary China," he said.

Bei, who was arrested 12 years ago for illegally publishing his quarterly
journal, Tendency, and has been banned from entering the country since,
said there were startling omissions in the Chinese lineup, which was meant
to represent the country's literary scene.

He said the "missing voices" included the 2000 Nobel laureate, Gao
Xingjian, who lives in exile in Paris, as well as his friend Liu Xiaobo,
winner of the 2010 Nobel peace prize, a leading literary critic who is
imprisoned in China. Liao Yiwu, an exiled writer living in Berlin, and
popular London-based storyteller Ma Jian were also omitted, he noted.

The arrival of a "state-sponsored delegation" from China has caused the
English branch of the writers' association Pen to reduce its participation
in this year's fair. Sarah Hesketh of English Pen said unlike in some
previous years, the organisation would be hosting an event for only one of
the visiting authors, Man Asian literary prize-winning novelist Bi Feiyu.

She said: "We're keen to engage in cultural exchange but at the same time
we didn't feel that given our human rights work in China ... we could be
seen to endorse an official state-sponsored delegation for whom there will
be restrictions on what they can say."

The organisation was still eager to work with London Book Fair and the
list of authors coming over from China was "wide-ranging", including some
outspoken writers, she added. "But we didn't feel that we could host those
writers knowing that there are some writers for whom travelling to the UK
would not even be an option," she said.

Susie Nicklin of the British Council said the organisation had consulted
hundreds of people in the UK and China to select the final list of people
coming over for the LBF and that it was very important to the Council that
"all sorts of voices are heard".
She said Bei had "got the wrong end of the stick" in urging the presence
of exiled authors on the programme, which she said was intended for people
living and writing in China.

Asked about the council's co-operation with the Gapp, she said an official
partner had been necessary for every year's country-specific market focus
event to take place. "Gapp is the department that this year is the
organisation that we're working with. Every year that we do the market
focus we need to work with a main organisation," she said.

Alistair Burtenshaw, the group exhibition director of the London Book
Fair, said the event was primarily a business-to-business fair to showcase
new markets to the publishing sector, but it was also excited about the
professional and cultural programme that would be presented.

He added: "The London Book Fair welcomes a wide variety of informed voices
to the fair across our 300 seminars and events and this includes authors
from around the world and the global publishing community. We're delighted
to offer this platform for open debate and discussion."

Bei, who lives in Taipei and Boston and is a friend of the political
activist and artist Ai Weiwei, was in Berlin last night for an event
organised by the Berlin International Literature Festival to show
solidarity for Liu Xiaobo.

He showed the Guardian emails of support he had received from other
writers, including the Nobel laureates Elfriede Jelinek and Herta Müller,
both of whom promised to bring attention to the issue.

Bei said the book fair's omissions were as glaring as if "a fair was
hosting Britain and had failed to invite Salman Rushdie, or Germany, and
failed to invite Günter Grass". "A book fair should include all kinds of
different voices from a country," he added.

His row with the London Book Fair recalls a similar fallout in 2009 at the
Frankfurt Book Fair. China, then also guest of honour, asked for the names
of Bei and Dai Qing, investigative journalist, to be struck off from a
list of participants. The director of Frankfurt, Jürgen Boos, conceded at
the time that the fair had given into the China organising committee, as
it was "only under these conditions that official China was prepared to
participate in this event". He said the alternative would have been to
cancel the fair.

Bei said he suspected London had been scared of a repeat of the Frankfurt
debacle. "I imagine that the London Book Fair has learned from the
Frankfurt experience and don't want to threaten the event," he said. "They
knew from the start that if they want the co-operation with China to
continue they need to exercise a little self-censorship. But this is a
London Book Fair and it should be controlled by the British, not the
Chinese."

He said he hoped they might still change their minds: "Maybe their
strategy is they plan to back down at the last minute when it's too late
for the Chinese to pull out."
I
n an attempt to "open up" the programme, English Pen will be holding a day
of events on 29 March that will include writers not included on the
official London Book Fair schedule.