This year's themes at the Book Fair are Games and Public Education, with the Canadian city of Québec as the guest of honor.
At the same time as the inauguration was taking place, however, the first program item also started at the Sweden-Israel Friendship Association's stand.
Just like last year, the association's program items have attracted criticism. Several poets are canceling their participation in the fair for this reason. One of them is Bisan Edwan, who previously expressed support for the terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, reports Kulturnytt on Sveriges Radio.
Last year, it was about the headlines that the association had put on two of the talks. This year, both the Book Fair and the association have been reported to the police for the wording in a program item with former Social Democratic MP Widar Andersson.
The police report is serious, notes fair director Oskar Ekström.
"We are deeply affected by both that and several other statements that have reached us regarding these program items. It is important for us to say that we do not stand behind them," he told TT ahead of Thursday.
Raised in Malmö
However, Jonathan Conricus' participation has also been criticized. The Swedish-Israeli, who grew up in Malmö but moved to Israel at the age of 13, has previously been a spokesperson for the Israeli military (IDF).
There is a massive and unfortunately very successful information campaign directed against Israel, claimed Jonathan Conricus, who later in his speech also criticized the Left Party, among others.
We see it very clearly with the Left Party, with clearly anti-Semitic messages and people with connections to anti-Semitic and Islamist organizations.
The seminar, which he attended via link, had security guards at both entrances to the booth. Several police officers were also present among the audience, a few of whom wore Palestinian shawls.
“Is unfortunate”
However, everything went very smoothly, sums up David Lega, who is the chairman of the friendship association.
"I think it's unfortunate that you can't have this type of conversation without almost as much security as there are listeners," he says.
But I'm happy and relieved that we were able to meet as well as we did today.
You received a lot of criticism for some of the program items last year and have been reported to the police again this year. How do you feel about that?
Of course, everyone is free to report it to the police, but that really doesn't mean that anything wrong has been committed, says David Lega.
However, I would be concerned if it were the case that people file a police report with the aim of silencing someone they disagree with. That would be the exact opposite of what the Book Fair and this democracy section stand for.
This year's Gothenburg Book Fair, the 42nd in the series, takes place from September 24–27.
This year's themes are public education and games, with the Canadian city of Québec as the guest of honor.
In addition to a long list of Swedish profiles, many international authors have also been invited, as usual, including Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah (2021) and Jamaica Kincaid, who this year will receive the fair's major literary prize, The Mermaid.
From the gaming world, for example, come Swedish game creator Josef Fares and Pole Andrzej Sapkowski, who is best known for "The Witcher" series.
Source: Gothenburg Book Fair 2026
