It is August 1949 in the Negev Desert, close to today's border with the Gaza Strip. This is one year after the war that Palestinians mourn as the Nakba – the catastrophe that led to the displacement and exile of over 700,000 people – and that Israelis celebrate as the War of Independence. It is also one year since the nearby kibbutz Nirim became the first Jewish settlement in Israel to be attacked by the Egyptian army. An Israeli officer has been tasked with searching the area for intruders. 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 minor 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, Shibli gives a voice to two female experiences which are all too often silenced. In her novel, she searches for words to describe the indescribable, providing a space that incorporates the essential details vital for an empathetic understanding of the victims' experiences. In this context, Shibli sheds light on the gaps in so-called objective documentation and on the minor details that are often overlooked. In doing so, she challenges narrative hegemony and resists multiple acts of erasure.
First published in Arabic in 2017, Eine Nebensache was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and has been translated into various languages. However, the organisers of the Frankfurt Book Fair cancelled the ceremony at which Shibli was due to receive the German Litprom Prize in October 2023, which is awarded to women writers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Arab world. This prompted an international outcry in support of Shibli. A solidarity statement was signed by hundreds of people working in Arab and international cultural circles. The PEN Berlin published a press release in support and arranged a reading, to which Shibli responded with a brief message speaking of literature as »a lifeline for many of us«.
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
