Tbilisi Book Festival has refused to cooperate with publishers from Russian Federation

Tbilisi International Book Festival suspends cooperation with all Russian publishers. This was reported on the website of the Georgian Association of Publishers and Booksellers.

«Given the dire situation in Ukraine now, in protest of the all-out violence by Russia against our allies and friends, the Tbilisi International Book Festival team has decided to suspend cooperation with Russian publishers», – the statement said.

According to the organizers, the Tbilisi Festival never cooperated with Russian state organizations to create a Russian national stand, as the organizers did not want it to become a source of Russian propaganda in Georgia.

«It has always been a matter of principle and dignity for us, as citizens of the occupied country. In the last thirty years, 20% of our territories have been twice occupied by brutal military actions of the brutal Russian Empire, moreover, we are still victims of the ongoing Russian occupation», – said the festival organizers and added that for these reasons they worked only with independent Russian publishers who had separate and non-national stands.

The organizers said they did not consider it possible to separate culture from politics now, «in this harsh reality, when the Ukrainian people live under bombs and the peaceful future of the civilized world costs Ukrainians their lives and the lives of their loved ones».

«We believe that today, as never before, culture has a great duty and responsibility to raise its voice, to become an integral part of world politics and, if possible, fight for the support of the Ukrainian people», – the statement said.

We would like to remind, that the London, Frankfurt and Bologna book fairs will suspend cooperation with Russian publishers. The Prague Book Fair and Book World Literary Festival also cancelled Russia’s participation in this year’s festival. In addition, the Ukrainian Book Institute called on the world community to ignore Russian books.