In June, the Kuibyshevsky District Court of St. Petersburg published the full judgement behind its decision of April 21 2022 to liquidate the Charitable Foundation, Sphere, the largest LGBT+ rights NGO in Russia. The judgement clearly states that the NGO’s publication of Mothers, Fathers and Kids from Dusk till Dawn authored by Lawrence Schimel, illustrated by Elina Braslina and translated into Russian by Dmitry Kuzmin, was part of its decision.

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At the International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities on 21-22 June, IPA Secretary General, José Borghino, gave a keynote speech entitled ‘Publishing as Essential, Critical Infrastructure, or Who’s Afraid of AI?’

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Concerns raised after exiled Turkish publisher Ragıp Zarakolu appears in national agency reports as being the subject of an extradition request as part of compromise between Turkey and Sweden over Sweden’s membership of NATO. Zarakolu, the 2008 IPA Prix Voltaire laureate, has lived in exile in Sweden since 2012.

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Mr. Thanapol Eawsakul, the editor-in-chief of Same Sky Books (Fah Diew Kan) was arrested on 30th June 2022. The Prix Voltaire shortlisted publisher was subsequently released on bail but IPA remains concerned about the future of the serially harassed publisher and his prospects for a fair and open trial.

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Following reports in the New York Times and The Guardian on the filtering of LGBTQ+ related search results, affecting books among other products, Kristenn Einarsson, Chair of the IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee said: A global business like Amazon should not be pressured to introduce this filtering of search results which is essentially censoring books in the UAE. Following the terrible attack in my own country, it is clear that we need books about LGBTQ+ issues to foster understanding, dialogue, tolerance and ultimately progress. I urge the UAE authorities to reconsider this heavy-handed approach.

The first edition of the World Expression Forum, known as WEXFO, took place in Lillehammer from 30-31 May with a stellar array of speakers, including Prix Nobel laureates Dmitri Muratov and Maria Ressa, dissecting the state of freedom of expression around the world.

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In response to reports that a Yangon-based publishing house has become the third to be shuttered in recent weeks, PEN America and the International Publishers Association (IPA) condemned the closure and expressed concern that the Myanmar military junta is ramping up censorship of literary and creative content, in blatant disregard for free expression and the freedoms to publish and access information.

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On the occasion of the first World Expression Forum, WEXFO, being held in Lillehammer, the International Publishers Association has announced the shortlist for the 2022 IPA Prix Voltaire, celebrating publishers from Afghanistan/Canada, Guatemala, India, Thailand and Ukraine. The award ceremony will be held at the 33^rd International Publishers Congress in Jakarta on 12 November.

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