Author's split with German publisher over 'silence on Gaza' causes her huge loss of earnings

Bosnian author Lana Bastasic says she will have to find a job following her decision to cut ties with her German publishers, over what she says is “silence over the genocide in Gaza,” and “systematic censorship” in the country. 

Bastasic announced her decision on Monday in an Instagram post, where she said she believed it to be her “moral and ethical duty”.

Speaking to Middle East Eye, she said that her decision will, and has already, incurred significant financial losses. 

“The advance that I would have gotten for my next novel in German translation is bigger than of all my other nineteen translations combined,” she said. 

“Besides, a German translation means readings, festivals, book fairs, and all of those are how writers make a living,” she added, saying that the implications are that she will now have to find a job to support herself financially. 

However, despite the impact on her livelihood, Bastasic maintains that she stands firm on her decision, and is content with her choice. 

“I didn’t start writing because I wanted to have a career. I started writing because I come from a traumatised place and I had the need to communicate something,” she said. 

Fleeing persecution

Bastasic’s family left Croatia due to persecution in the 1940s, forcing them to relocate to the north of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

In Bosnia, Muslims were vilified and persecuted by Serbs, with buildings razed and people killed on a mass scale.

Her experience of war and its consequences has influenced her writing, making her want to speak out over Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which has killed at least 24,000 Palestinians since the start of the war on 7 October. 

Seeing Israeli forces bomb hospitals, civilian infrastructure, and places of worship in Gaza has encouraged her to speak out even more, she says, especially when reflecting on her own experiences of witnessing war. 

'The advance that I would have gotten for my next novel in German translation is bigger than of all my other nineteen translations combined'

- Lana Bastasic, author

“I wrote a book about a Muslim girl whose mother changed her name in order to save her. This practice was common in the Balkans, regardless of ethnicity. But personally I know that three decades are not enough to get over a bloody war.

"I belong to a wounded and scattered generation. Our countries are still very much recuperating,” she explained. 

“When you go through that, nothing in this world can make you stay quiet while there are bombs falling on children. Even after the last bomb falls, their dealing with trauma will just have begun,” she added. 

As well as seeing her publisher’s “double standards” outlined on their webpage, Bastasic says that she had taken the decision after being inspired by others from the Strike Germany movement, and from hearing personal stories from Palestinians.

“One of my Palestinian friends told me that around 100 members of his extended family have been killed in Gaza. After you hear such a number, how can a publishing contract be important? We all have to do our part, and this was mine,” she said. 

So far, she says, the reaction to her decision has been positive, “except for a few angry Germans in my emails telling me to leave their country”.