Eine Nebensache

It is August 1949 in the Negev Desert, close to today's border with the Gaza Strip.This is one year after the Nakba – the catastrophe that led to the forced displacement and expulsion of over 700,000 people. An Israeli officer has been tasked with »demarcating the southern border with Egypt and preventing anyone from penetrating it,« furthermore, he is »to comb the southwest part of the Negev and cleanse it of any remaining Arabs.« Every day, he and his unit march through the sand and map the terrain. Four days after their arrival, they encounter a group of Palestinian Bedouin and kill everyone except a teenage girl, who is taken into custody. Back at the camp, the soldiers subsequently abuse and murder her. Decades later, a young woman from Ramallah reads an investigative piece by an Israeli journalist revealing this incident. Fascinated – indeed, obsessed – by the story, the Palestinian woman is struck by the fact that the attack happened twenty-five years to the day before she was born. This detail links her life to that of the girl and sets her off on a journey through checkpoints and borders in search of traces of the girl‘s life.

In Eine Nebensache (Minor Detail), Shibli searches for words to describe the indescribable. Her writing opens up a space that not only evokes an empathetic understanding of the experiences of the victims. But moreover, it sheds light on the gaps in so-called objective documentation and on the minor details that are often overlooked. Ultimately, her writing challenges narrative hegemony and defies erasure in all its forms.

First published in Arabic in 2017, Eine Nebensache (Minor Detail) was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and has been trans lated into various languages.

As part of the 7th Berlin Herbstsalon, Oliver Frljić is bringing Eine Nebensache by Adania Shibli to the stage for its world premiere.

World Premiere 20/November 2025 


Part of 7th Berliner Herbstsalon ЯE:IMAGINE: THE RED HOUSE