Public pressure reinstates Palestine at Paris Poetry Market

The Circé association, responsible for organizing the Marché de la poésie, issued a statement on Instagram on Saturday, June 8, confirming the presence of Palestine as guest of honor for the 2025 edition of the event.

This announcement follows a petition signed by 193 figures launched earlier this week against the Paris Poetry Market, which had initially deprogrammed Palestine for next year.

The petition was published on Wednesday, June 5, by the French newspaper Libération. Massively relayed on social media, the text has finally «borne fruit», as five of the signatories, including Moroccan writer Rima Battal, collectively declare.

It all began on June 1, when Abdellatif Laâbi, a Moroccan writer and poet, wrote to the event's organizers in a letter published on his Facebook page, questioning them on this «biased and morally unbearable» political about-turn. In response, the organizers stated that they wished to avoid the Marché de la Poésie becoming a «political (and not poetic) forum», with «issues that [would] go beyond it».

In the end, the responsiveness, coordination and solidarity shown by the signatories helped to sway the organizers, resulting in the reaffirmation of the invitation to the Palestinian poets.