Viewers Corner News correspondent reported that the 46-year-old author, Kamila Shamsie’s literary award (Nelly Sachs Prize) has been withdrawn by the German city of Dortmund over her support for the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The British Pakistani writer, Kamila Shamsie was announced as this year’s winner of the Nelly Sachs Prize (the literary award named after a Jewish poet) in honour of her literary work. The eight-member jury cancelled its original vote for Kamila Shamsie and decided not to nominate another winner for 2019. It was stated that the author’s active participation in the cultural boycott as part of the BDS (Boycott Disinvestment Sanctions) campaign against the Israeli government is in contradiction to the statutory objectives of the award and the spirit of the Nelly Sachs Prize. Kamila Shamsie wrote on her Twitter that “It is a matter of great sadness that a jury should bow to pressure and withdraw a prize from a writer who is exercising her freedom of conscience and freedom of expression”. The Palestinians launched the BDS movement in 2005 to generate international pressure on Israel to respect Palestinian human rights. Kamila Shamsie has written many fiction novels, including Broken Verses, Burnt Shadows and House Fire. She won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2018 and was longlisted for the 2017 Booker Prize. The Nelly Sachs Prize is awarded every two years, and the winner receives a cash prize of 15,000 euros ($16,500).
Source: Viewers Corner News.