Ukrainian book institute calls for the total boycott of books from Russia in the world

The Ukrainian Book Institute calls for a total boycott of Russian books in the world. This was reported on the website of the institute. We submit the original of this letter:

Dear world literature and publishing community!

We call for a ban on spreading Russian narrative through cultural products in general and books in particular. The very important actions were already taken by stakeholders in different spheres. Among them European Broadcasting Union, Eurovision, YouTube, Facebook.

Russian propaganda is woven into many books which indeed turns them into weapons and pretexts for the war. And these are the titles that were published in modern Russia involving state support. They are distributed all over the world, promoted at international book fairs, literary festivals, scientific conferences and geopolitical discussions. Affected by Russian propaganda in the field of literature and book publishing, many authors, literary agents, publishers and distributors from around the world spread the infection among more and more readers in their countries.

We strongly believe that the boycott should be supported by many more and that new sanctions should be imposed to fully isolate Russia and prevent it from further expansion with the means of cultural instruments.

Our demands are:  

1) to stop online and offline distribution of books by Russian authors and publishers through the bookstores in your countries;

2) to stop buying and selling rights to and from Russian publishers;

3) to suspend participation of Russia, its publishing houses, cultural centers and authors in all international book fairs and literary festivals;

4) to terminate grants for translations of contemporary Russian authors into foreign languages;

Russia and its criminal dictator are spreading false narratives and harmful ideology composed of the words and texts of their books. 

We believe in the freedom of speech and uncensored creativity, we believe that books shape us and our world. But it also means they might be turned into weapons against democracy. 

Fill out the form to support the boycott.

The statement was signed by the Ukrainian Book Institute, Lviv International BookForum, PEN Ukraine, Book Arsenal and BookSpace.

As of 15:00 on March 3, the boycott was supported by 549 people.

As reported, Frankfurt, London and Bologna Book Fairs refused to cooperate with Russian publishers. Czech Book Fair also terminates cooperation with Russia.