A week before the start of the Literary Autumn in Leipzig, 33 authors and artists called for the cancellation of an event with Alice Schwarzer. Schwarzer repeatedly attracts attention through “transphobic, racist and misogynistic statements and publications,” it said in an open letter that the artists published on Tuesday. “That’s why we’re calling on the Literary Autumn not to give Alice Schwarzer a platform for her problematic statements and to remove the event from the program.”
According to the organizers, Schwarzer will present her autobiography “My Life” in the Leipzig City Library next week. Some cooperation partners had already withdrawn from the Literary Autumn because of the event. At the beginning of October, the organizers announced that they were aware that Schwarzer was a “controversial author who polarized through provocative, sometimes problematic statements for us.” Nevertheless, the achievements of a journalist who has been committed to feminism worldwide for decades are beyond question.
