The inaugural day of the 37th edition of the International Book Fair of Tunis (Filt) which takes place until May 7 will have marked the spirits. And for good reason, a novel, a priori like all novels, has been removed from the stand of its publisher, causing series reactions.
The novel we are talking about is “Frankenstein Tunis”. This is Kamel Riahi’s new novel, all the copies of which were removed yesterday from the stand of its publisher, Dar al-Kitab, during the 37th edition of the International Book Fair in Tunis (Filt), organized at the Kram Exhibition Palace.
The incident was confirmed by the publisher Habib Zoghbi, owner of Dar al-Kitab, stressing that the novel in question was withdrawn by the services of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs which also decided to close its stand.
Book and publishing professionals cry out to censorship
What about the controversy that followed? Book and publishing professionals cry out for censorship and in solidarity with their colleague, decided, in turn, to close their stands, as confirmed, last night, the president of the Union of Tunisian publishers Riadh Ben Abderrazek and member of the Filt Organization Committee.
The official version is different. Rather, it is advancing reasons related to the fair settlement prohibiting any publication not declared in advance to the organizing committee.
The official version speaks of offense and bad faith
The national establishment for the promotion of festivals and cultural and artistic events published a press release in which it explains the reasons for the withdrawal of the novel without quoting it.
“It should be noted that the book in question was exposed in a clandestine way and this confirms the offense and bad faith,” it is said. Thus, the publisher is accused by the Filt organizers of having “violated the internal regulations of the fair by presenting a book which was not included in the list presented to the Committee of Exhibitors during the selection of application files”.
A regulation to change?
The exhibition of the new novel by Kamel Riahi at the stand of his publisher was therefore perceived as an offense and not in accordance with the internal regulations of the fair prohibiting the exhibition of publications which are not in the initial list presented to the selection committee.
This incident is not the first of its kind. Similar incidents have several times marked the previous editions of the fair. If professionals have most often denounced an act of censorship targeting their publications, the fair settlement stipulates to present only the titles announced by each exhibitor.
From there it is advisable to find solutions on the issue of unconcluded books when you know that the rules of the fair has been adopted to deal with the practices of certain exhibitors, during previous editions, who did not comply with the preliminary list presented before the start of the fair.
