In a newspaper article, two former jurors of the prestigious Berlin International Literature Prize have lamented anti-white racism at the last award ceremony. ‘It was about nationality, ethnicity, skin colour, politics and not about literature,’ commented Juliane Liebert and Ronya Othmann in an article for the newspaper Die Zeit. Both were members of the prize’s seven-member jury last year.
Specifically, the two former judges report several racist and sexist statements and decisions within the jury. For example, Liebert was insulted by another juror by saying ‘As a white woman, you have nothing to say here anyway!’. When choosing the shortlist, the majority of the jury members had spoken out against the authors Mariette Navarro and Peter Nadas because Navarro is a ‘white French woman’ and Nadas a ‘white man and privileged white author’. Literary quality did not play a role in the decision. Instead, one juror is said to have emphasised: ‘Sorry, I love literature, but politics is more important.’
The winner Mohamed Mbougar Sarr also received the prize for racist reasons. His novel ‘Die geheimste Erinnerung der Menschen’ is a deserving winner from a literary point of view, say Liebert and Othmann. However, the jury primarily decided in favour of Sarr because he is black and although both of his translators are white. White people generally cannot translate black authors, according to the jury, which ultimately chose Sarr as the winner despite these reservations.
The 35,000 euro prize is awarded by the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) and the Elementarteilchen Foundation. According to Liebert and Othmann, several HKW employees took part in the meeting to select the shortlist and even moderated it. The two former jurors report that they also voiced their criticism to the HKW management around artistic director Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung. Unlike the majority of their former colleagues, they were not reappointed to the jury this year.
When asked by the newspaper JUNGE FREIHEIT, the chairwoman of the HKW supervisory board, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens), has not yet commented on the allegations, nor have the other jury members. HKW rejected Lieberts and Othmann’s claims in an official statement.
Anti-weißer Rassismus überschattet Internationalen Literaturpreis Berlin (jungefreiheit.de)