- KUWAIT: Saudi novelist Abdo Khal, who won the prestigious 2010 Arab Booker Prize, has announced that he would boycott the upcoming 35th Kuwait Book Show after managers of the annual fair prevented Egyptian writers from participating, Al-Hayat reported on Tuesday.
"This is my stand against the decision to prevent Egyptian authors from participating in the Kuwait Book Fair," he told the newspaper.
Khal, a writer and journalist, won the $60,000 Arab Booker Prize for his novel "Spewing Sparks as Big as Castles," which explores the excessive world of the palace, a symbol of richness and power.
"Winning the Arab Booker Prize has placed on my shoulders new responsibilities of supporting justice and righteousness, something I would not dare to do in the past. Now I can raise my voice. I ask all writers to boycott the show," Khal said.
He believes that if all writers follow suit, the book fairs will be fair for everyone. "I do not understand why the Kuwait Book Fair's management has prevented all Egyptian writers from participating. What compass have they used in their decision?" he said.
Khal described the decision as akin to boycotting the entire culture of a country and said it was not understandable that a few people would decide for the people of Kuwait what to read and what not to read.
"Kuwait has always been a beacon of knowledge and enlightenment. How can it now prevent some writers from presenting their work to the Kuwaiti citizens and Arabs living with them?" he asked.