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British author Geraldine Bedell says her
upcoming book has been banned in the United Arab Emirates,
and she was dropped from a literary festival in Dubai
because her novel contains references to homosexuality and
was deemed critical of Islam.
Bedell, a journalist with the Observer
newspaper, said she had been in talks with the organizers of
the first International Festival of Literature in Dubai
about launching The Gulf Between Us, which is set
in the Gulf region
The festival, which runs from Feb. 26 to
March 1, has attracted an international cast of authors
including Canadian Margaret Atwood.
Bedell said everything changed after the
manuscript for The Gulf Between Us, set for release
in April, was sent to organizers. Since then, the book has
been banned from sale in the United Arab Emirates.
Bedell says festival director Isobel
Abulhoul wrote to her publisher, Penguin, stating: "I don't
want our festival remembered for the launch of a
controversial book."
'[My book] is incredibly
affectionate towards the Gulf.'—Geraldine
Bedell
"If we launched the book and a journalist
happened to read it, then you could imagine the political
fallout that would follow."
Bedell says Abulhoul said The Gulf
Between Us was unacceptable because one of the
characters, Sheikh Rashid, is gay. In addition, she had
complained "it talks about Islam and queries what is said."
Main character is 'incredibly respectful
to Islam'
Bedell, who lived in Bahrain for five
years in the 1980s, said Sheikh Rashid, a minor character,
"is only spoken about" and "assumed to be gay."
"Of course it does make reference to Islam
because it's a Muslim country and part of it is set during
Ramadan," she added. "But the narrator — a middle-aged
Englishwoman — is incredibly respectful to Islam."
Bedell says the incident calls into
question the entire purpose of the literary festival.
"[My book] is incredibly affectionate
towards the Gulf," Bedell told the Times newspaper.
"It calls into question the whole notion
of whether the Emirates and other Gulf states really want to
be part of the contemporary cultural world ... You can't ban
books and expect your literary festival to be taken
seriously."
Jonathan Heawood, director of English PEN,
a freedom of expression organization, says festivals provide
"amazing opportunities for cultural exchange."
"A literary festival which bars books
because of their gay or religious content is neither
literary, nor a festival. I hope that the organizers will
reconsider," said Heawood.
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