In light of today's positive vote on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulation during the European Parliament's plenary session, EIBF and FEP have issued a joint press release welcoming the adoption of this long-awaited regulation

 

The book sector has long suffered the effects of the increasing market dominance and unfair practices of the world's largest companies that act as gatekeepers of the digital world. The DMA will impose strict rules, obligations and prohibitions on these gatekeepers, ensuring fairer competition and more transparent business conditions with booksellers and publishers, as well as more choice for consumers.

 

You can read our full press release attached.
 

What's next for the European cultural and creative sector? EIBF director Julie Belgrado spotlights the priorities for the bookselling sector within the context of the EU's upcoming Work Plan for Culture 2023-26

On 29 June 2022, the European Commission published its report on the Work Plan for Culture 2019-22 in the EU. The Work Plan for Culture is a plan that helps steer Member States’ four-year collective strategy to support the needs and priorities of the cultural and creative sectors.

The new report gives a positive assessment on the plan implementation for the past four years and lists the Commission’s identified priorities in the field of culture for the years ahead. Among those are enduring priorities, such as challenges and opportunities of the digital transformation and the relationship between culture and sustainability. However, new ones are also identified, namely the recovery and resilience of the cultural and creative sectors after the COVID-19 pandemic and broadening access to culture and creativity to people with disabilities. 

As the implementation of the current Work Plan 2019-2022 is coming to an end this year, the preparations for the Work Plan for the 2023-2026 period have begun.

Earlier this year, the French Presidency initiated the conversation with stakeholders from the cultural and creative sectors to assess the challenges and priorities for the following four-year cycle. However, it will be up to the Czech and Swedish Presidencies to adopt the next Work Plan and come up with an efficient political response.

In this context, EIBF has been invited to join and feed into the ongoing discussion, spotlighting the priorities for the bookselling sector in the years to come, particularly within the framework of the Creative Europe programme.

While the dialogue is still ongoing, EIBF has already identified some priorities and opportunities for development for the bookselling sector, which can contribute to the Work Plan for 2023-2026. For instance, many booksellers call for measures to facilitate and encourage reading promotion among children and younger generations. In that process, booksellers and bookshops should be recognised as valuable resources to stimulate and promote reading.

Reflecting on the upcoming plan and on booksellers’ priorities, EIBF Director Julie Belgrado said: “The pandemic showed us that many people went back to reading, new readers came along and book sales, overall, went up. Our work ahead is to ensure those readers continue visiting bookshops and to keep newfound readers engaged. Through the Creative Europe Programme, we can facilitate the creation and distribution of European content that is accessible and meets the demands of today's readers.” 
 

Discover the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Book Club recommendations on SDG16, focusing on peace, justice and strong institutions

 

SDG16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

How can everyone enjoy a peaceful life? How can justice for all become a reality? We can do this by treating everyone fairly. Justice helps us figure out what is fair in daily situations. Rules and laws help people understand what is fair where they live. There are many people around the world who help to enforce rules and laws so we can all feel safe and secure at home, at school, and at work.

To live safely and peacefully is one of your human rights. Everyone should be able to enjoy this way of living. Unfortunately, this is not the case everywhere. In some countries, there is war or conflict, and people are forced to leave their homes. Many families live in constant fear of losing their loved ones because no one is helping to enforce the laws that protect them. No matter where you live, we all must support safety, equality, and wellbeing for everyone, every day.

Find the SDG16 reading list here.

You can contribute to making the world a more peaceful place. Always choose kindness over violence. Every small action counts! Advocate for peace within your family, among your friends and classmates. Our new reading list for SDG16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions will give you many examples on how you can help spread peace and justice in your community.

--

The EIBF is one of the organisers of the SDG Book Club, working together with the UN, IPA, IFLA, IBBY and IAF. Find out more. 

The European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) joins the wider book industry in condemning the horrible attack on author Salman Rushdie and City of Asylum co-founder Henry Reese.

This attack is not only an abominable act of violence against a human being, but also an act of violence against the right to free expression, the written word, and human dignity. EIBF co-President Jean-Luc Treutenaere commented: ‘Through the diverse range of booksellers EIBF represents, we are painfully aware of the dangers and threats that authors, as well as publishers, and booksellers may face for disseminating the written word, while they uphold the right to freedom of expression. Books are, and will always remain, invaluable sources of culture, education and knowledge, which foster the exchange of ideas, and help people become critical thinkers and active members of society’.
 
Freedom of expression and open and free public debate are the building blocks of healthy democracies, and yet, especially after last weekend’s atrocious attack, EIBF recognises that freedom of expression is a vulnerable right that must always be safeguarded and advocated for. 
 
Booksellers will continue to play their part in the fight for a world where authors’ ideas can be freely disseminated, and discussed without fear.

Our thoughts and considerations are with Rushdie, Reese, and their families during this difficult time. We wish them health and healing.

After two years away from the fair grounds, EIBF is thrilled to invite you to a half day of exchanges, discussions and meetings with colleagues

 

The European and International Booksellers Federation is pleased to once again provide you with a space for sharing knowledge and best practices with key stakeholders in the bookselling industry. We have prepared an exclusive programme dedicated to booksellers and booksellers associations, full of inspirational ideas to bring back home, and focused on the future. You can download the full programme here and get to know our speakers below.

The half day conference will be held on Thursday 20 October, at room Fantasie 1 (Congress centre, C3).
Please note that the entrance to the conference is free, but will only be granted upon registration. Please register here before 17 October.
 

Get to know the speakers

Enrique Pascual Pons

President of the Madrid Booksellers Guild, bookseller at Librerías Marcial Pons (Spain)

Enrique Pascual Pons has developed his entire professional career at Marcial Pons bookshop and publishers, where he has held different positions until he became the current Director of Bookstores and Counselor of the publishing houses of Law and History.

He is also currently the President of the Madrid Booksellers Guild and of the Madrid Book Fair, having been a member of the Board of Directors of the Madrid Publishers Association for seven years.

 

Jeff Deutsch

Author of In Praise of Good Bookstores (Princeton University Press, 2022) and Director of Seminary Co-op Bookstores (USA)

Jeff Deutsch is the director of Chicago’s Seminary Co-op Bookstores, which in 2019 he helped incorporate as the first not-for-profit bookstore whose mission is bookselling. He lives in Chicago. 

 

João Varella

Founder of publishing house Lote 42 and bookshops Sala Tatuí and Banca Tatuí (Brazil)

João Varella is the founder of the Brazilian publishing house Lote 42 and the bookstores Sala Tatuí and Banca Tatuí. He organizes events on the Brazilian independent publishing circuit, such as Feira Miolo(s) and Printa-Feira. João has written six books, the most recent being "Videogame Pandemia", published by Elefante in 2021. João has been a journalist since 2007, and currently collaborates with the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. He presents HBO's documentary "12 Moedas". João lives in São Paulo. 

 

Katerina Malakate

Vice President of PEN Greece, owner of bookshop-café Booktalks (Greece)

Katerina Malakate was born in Athens in 1978, is married and has two sons. She is the author of three novels, the latest being “Faceless” by Metaixmio in 2020. She is the Vice President of PEN Greece. She owns Booktalks, a small indie bookshop- café in Athens. There she hosts a lot of literary events, coordinates two book clubs, and two workshops (creative writing and reading). She is the creator and admin of one of the biggest facebook groups about literature in Greece (Diavazontas) and blogs in www.diavazontas.blogspot.gr 

 

Aidai Maksatbekova

Founder & CEO at IQ Bookstore LTD (Kyrgyzstan)

Aidai Maksatbekova  was born in 1994 in Naryn, Kyrgyzstan. She graduated from International Alatoo University, faculty of international relations. From 2014 to 2015 studied in Turkey through Mevlana Exchange Programme. After graduation, she worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for two years.  
Having spent all her life in Kyrgyzstan, it baffled her that she could not find a physical book in the English language just for her joy reading. So she decided to open the first English Bookstore in Kyrgyzstan. She started in 2019 as an online bookstore. Today, she has a physical bookstore that opened its doors on 12 March 2019 and offers more than 5 000 books. Her mission is to make English books available for kids and adults. She constantly expands the variety of books on her shelves to provide readers with more comprehensive options. She strives to provide a unique platform for the young generation of readers by hosting book clubs’ meetings and events and, therefore, contributing to the exchange of innovative ideas and connection of future leaders. 

 

Hazel Broadfoot

Owner of Village Books and President of the Booksellers' Association of Great Britain and Ireland (United Kingdom)

Hazel Broadfoot studied English at the University of St Andrews and became a bookseller as soon as she graduated. She joined  Waterstone’s in its infancy, managing several branches before being appointed to its board. She left to set up her own business and is the owner of Village Books, an award-winning independent bookshop in Dulwich, south-east London.  She is President of The Booksellers’ Association of Great Britain and Ireland, and is a Trustee of World Book Day. She loves hands-on bookselling.

 

Patrick Schneebeli

President of the LIBER Association (Switzerland)

Patrick Schneebeli is the President of the Swiss LIBER Association. He is a trained bookseller and has been working in publishing since 1998. He is based in Zurich and has been in charge of sales with Scheidegger & Spiess since 2005 and with Park Books since 2012.

 

Laura Karlsson

Director of Finnish Booksellers Association, 'Kirjakauppaliitto' (Finland)

Laura Karlsson is the Director of Finnish Booksellers Association (Kirjakauppaliitto). The Finnish BA acts to improve the business environment of Finnish bookstores and their interests by lobbying and offering information and researches, in cooperation with administrative organizations, decision-makers and other relevant operators in the field. The Association functions to secure the position of Finnish bookstores as a delivery channel for literature, follows the international development in the field and strives to improve the visibility of bookstores in the media. Finnish BA represents about 90 % of Finnish Booksellers in brick-and-mortar, webshops and streaming services. 

 

Raluca Selejan

Co-founder & managing partner At Two Owls Independent Bookshop, Timișoara, România (La Două Bufnițe)

Raluca is the co-founder and managing partner of the independent bookshop La Două Bufnițe, which she co-founded and manages together with her childhood best friend, Oana Doboși. With over 10 years of experience in branding, communication and organizing of cultural events, she is passionate about books and reading - that is being an Owl by profession. She likes art and music (especially rock) and most of all, after reading and the bookstore, she likes to go to concerts and art galleries. Raluca recommends books daily on live radio and weekly in a national cultural magazine, because this is what she believes booksellers have to do: talk about books all the time, on every occasion.

 

 

Were you unable to attend this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair? Fear not! Let EIBF take you through all the highlights, best moments and main events from this year’s edition, so you won’t miss a thing. Keep reading!  

 

Opening ceremony 

The entire EIBF team joined the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Frankfurt Book Fair to celebrate its inauguration and to welcome this year’s Guest of Honour: Spain. 

 

A rare picture of the EIBF Secretariat all dressed up 

 

Inside the packed auditorium, we were joined by King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia from Spain, as well high-profile figures and politicians, such as the President of Germany, Mr Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the Minister-President of Hesse, Mr Boris Rhein. 

Both King Felipe VI and President Steinmeier emphasized that the essence of books has remained unchanged over the years, despite the fast-changing and increasingly digitalised world. The entire book chain, from authors and translators to publishers and booksellers, play a key role in ensuring this love for books remains alive. Without them, access to culture would not be possible. 

Spanish authors Antonio Muñoz Molina and Irene Vallejo also took to the stage, taking us through Spain’s rich literary history and each highlighting two important aspects of this year’s fair: diversity of authors and stories, and the value of translation. 

And with a bang, the 2022 Frankfurt Book Fair was officially open! 

                                                       The 74th edition of the Frankfurt Book Fair is now officially open

                                                                                                               

Day 1: meeting members, partners and new colleagues 

We kicked off our first day at the Fair attending an event from our colleagues at the Federation of European Publishers (FEP), where they presented statistics and data of the book market for 2021. 

FEP President Peter Krauss vom Cleff 

 

Peter Krauss vom Cleff, FEP President, and Enrico Turin, FEP Deputy Director and Economist, announced that book sales experienced an overall growth of 6.5% in sales in 2021, with the highest growth rate seen in Portugal and the Netherlands. Out of all book formats, printed books remained the most popular, with children's books showing particular resilience. 

At the same time, online sales grew especially in Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria and Italy. 

We continued our day meeting with several members, as well as prospective members and ongoing partners. 

EIBF’s Daniel Martin Brennan also introduced our new Freedom of Expression Charter at the International Publishers Association (IPA)’s Freedom to Publish open meeting. More on this later! 

                                                              Daniel presenting the Freedom of Expression Charter 

 

Our first day ended with a long-overdue dinner with EIBF members, ahead of Thursday’s Annual Conference. It was lovely to reconnect with members from all over the world after a few years of (mostly) virtual gatherings. Here are a few pictures of the memorable evening: 

Our Co-Presidents welcoming the attendees 

 

Now we’re ready for Day two! 

 

Day 2: EIBF Annual Conference is back! 

It was an absolute joy to finally be able to gather our members, industry representatives, and booksellers from across Europe and beyond for our annual conference at the Frankfurt Book Fair once again.  

The 2022 Annual Conference was kicked off by Spanish bookseller Enrique Pascual Pons, who took us on a journey through the concept of hybrid bookselling. 

 

Enrique Pascual Pons, Marcial Pons, Spain 

 

We then listened attentively to Katerina Malakate, Aidai Maksatbekova, and Joao Varella, booksellers from Greece, Kyrgyzstan, and Brasil, discuss the thrills, hardships and lessons learned from bookselling in their respective countries. We learned that we have so much in common despite the national borders separating us. The multicultural panel was moderated by Hazel Broadfoot, bookseller herself and President of the UK & Ireland Booksellers Association.   

From left to right: Hazel Broadfoot (Village Books, UK), Katerina Malakate (Booktalks, Greece), Aidai Maksatbekova (IQ Bookstore, Kyrgyzstan), and Joao Varella (Banca Tatui, Brazil)

 

Presently, Jeff Deutsch, Director of Seminary Co-op Bookstore in Chicago and author of In Praise of Good Bookstores, took the stage together with Raluca Selejan, co-founder and co-owner of La Doua Bufnite Bookshop in Romania, who moderated the discussion having previously reviewed his book. You can find her full review here.

Later, Laura Karlsson, Director of the Finnish Booksellers Association Kirjakaupaliitto, took us through recent sustainability initiatives in Finland and Patrick Schneebeli, President of the Swiss LIBER Association, explained how the LIBER project united the Swiss book trade and boosted bookshop sales. 

Just after the morning’s conference, we took the stairs one floor down to attend the Frankfurt Book Fair and FEP’s joint event with Ukranian President Volodomyr Zelensky’s address to the book sector. 

In his speech, Zelensky asked the wider book community to write, publish and distribute books to share knowledge, “because giving knowledge to people is the answer.” 

                                       Ukranian President Volodomyr Zelensky’s address at the Frankfurt Book Fair and FEP joint event

 

Next up was the EIBF’s General Assembly where we presented an overview of EIBF’s policy and communications activities over the past year. The GA was also the moment where EIBF’s new charter on Freedom of Expression was unveiled to members. 

As the fundamental right to freedom of expression is a topic close to many booksellers’ hearts and part of the everyday reality of the book world, the EIBF board and Secretariat wished for some time to develop a document that would help steer EIBF's work and ensure a more proactive response where ncessary.  

Therefore, over the summer, EIBF’s Policy Team, Daniel Martín Brennan and Tora Åsling, together with a committee of dedicated members, produced a charter on Freedom of Expression, which is to guide the association's work in the future. Members were invited to sign the charter at the General Assembly as a gesture of support. 

EIBF’s General Assembly signing the Freedom of Expression Charter 

 

The rest of the day the Secretariat spent the way you do most in Frankfurt: attending meetings and events with members and other relevant sector representatives. 

One of the last points on our Frankfurt agenda was the European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) event. On stage in the Pavilion were EUPL winner Iva Pezuashvili from Georgia and special mentions Jacobo Bergareche from Spain and Gaea Schoeters from Belgium. The three remaining special mentions who couldn’t be with us in person, Sladjana Nina Perkovic from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eugenia Kuznetsova from Ukraine, and Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin from Ireland, had all sent video messages. The event was moderated by FEP Director Anne Bergman. 

                                       From left to right: Jacobo Bergareche, Iva Pezuashvili, Gaea Schoeters, and Anne Bergman

 

And that's all for this year's Frankfurt adventures! Back in Brussels, reminiscing about the eventful Frankfurt days, the EIBF team all agree on one thing: we are so happy we finally had the chance to meet our members in person again and cannot wait for next year!

Freedom of expression, alongside the freedom to publish and sell books is a key a priority for us at the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF), and has been since our inception as an organisation representing the interests of the European and international bookselling community. 

It is a human right enshrined in international law, namely in the United  Nations  Universal  Declaration  of  Human  Rights,  the  European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. 

Unfortunately, it is also a right that has been thwarted, restricted and even suppressed over the years, particularly in times of political oppression. EIBF has responded to many of these violations, for instance, condemning the disappearance of author, publisher and bookshop owner Gui Minhai, who is currently imprisoned. 

Nevertheless, more recent events have shown us that the censorship of the written word is still very prevalent, including in Europe, as seen with the banning of LGBTQ+ books in Hungary and bookshop raids in Belarus earlier this year.  

In this context, with the help of EIBF’s active members and inspired by our attendance to the first-ever World Expression Forum (WEXFO) earlier this year, we set ourselves the task to draft an ambitious charter and guiding principles that would help steer our work on freedom of expression and demonstrate our continuous and committed work to defend this fundamental right. 

We were, therefore, very proud to present the Charter to our members after many months of work at the recent Frankfurt Book Fair, one of the world's largest and most important events for the book sector, gathering book sector professionals from all over the world. There, our members had the opportunity to sign the Charter and formally endorse it.

 

At the Frankfurt Book Fair, we also had the opportunity to present the Charter to the international publishing community, specifically at the Interantional Publishers Association (IPA) freedom to publish open meeting. Having worked hand in hand with IPA for many years in our fight against censorship, we recognise their great work on the topic. Now, with our Charter to guide us along the way, we will continue to work together as long as books are censored or challenged in any way.  

 

 

Want to take a look and support our Freedom of Expression Charter? It will be unveiled to the public in the coming weeks, ahead of the Human Rights Day on 10th December, which commemorates the adoption and proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Keep your eyes peeled on our website and social channels for the announcement! 

On the evening of 6 December, the European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) honoured all the authors nominated for the 2022 edition during a celebratory event, which took place at Flagey culture house in Brussels, Belgium. The event took attendees on a journey through the literary works of the nominated authors, highlighting the diversity of European literature, as well as its linguistic richness. The authors, divided into 4 thematic groups, presented their work to the audience, reading excerpts from their nominated books in their mother tongue. Each reading was then followed by a discussion with the public.

Later on, the celebration moved to Flagey main stage, starting with an introduction by Ms Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Ms Sabine Verheyen, Chair of the Committee on Culture and Education of the European Parliament, Ms Sonia Draga, Vice President of the Federation of European Publishers, and Mr Jean-Luc Treutenaere, Co-President of the European & International Booksellers Federation. Mr Serhii Tereshko, Deputy Head of Mission of Ukraine to the EU, took to stage to speak about the importance of literature for the Ukrainian European identity. Following the introduction, the authors took turns on stage to exchange with the Master of Ceremony, journalist Joris Vergeyle. The evening concluded with a reception, which gave the authors and the attendees a chance to connect over a glass of wine and a bite to eat.

The event was a delightful conclusion to the 2022 edition of the European Union Prize for Literature and a great opportunity for lovers of literature to get together in celebration of this year’s wonderful nominees and of Europe’s rich literary and linguistic panorama.

 

About the 2022 edition:

Fourteen authors from fourteen countries have participated in the 2022 edition of the Prize. For the first time, a seven-member European jury awarded one overall winner for this edition, accompanied by five special mentions. The winner of the 2022 edition of EUPL is Iva Pezuashvili (Georgia) with his book ‘A garbage chute’. The special mention title was awarded to five authors: Gaea Schoeters (Belgium) with her book ‘Trophy’, Sladjana Nina Perković (Bosnia and Herzegovina) with her book ‘In the ditch’, Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin (Ireland) with his book ‘Madame Lazare’, Jacobo Bergareche (Spain) with his book ‘Perfect days’ and Eugenia Kuznetsova (Ukraine) with her book ‘Ask Miyechka’. The list of 2022 nominees concludes with Kjersti Anfinnsen (Norway, ‘Moments for Eternity’), Vladimir Jankovski (North Macedonia, ‘Hidden Desires, Restless Travels’), Takis Kampylis (Greece, ‘General Symptoms’), Peter Karoshi (Austria, ‘The Elephants’), Daniele Mencarelli (Italy, ‘Always return’), Raluca Nagy (Romania, ‘Teo from 4 to 6’), Richard Pupala (Slovakia, ‘Women and men, animals’) and Tomas Vaiseta (Lithuania, ‘Ch.’).

About EUPL:

Spotlighting the creativity and the immense and diverse wealth of Europe’s contemporary literature, the European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) recognises the best emerging fiction writers in Europe.
The Prize is open to 41 countries participating in the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, celebrating 41 outstanding new literary talents across a cycle of three years. EUPL aims to promote the circulation of literature within Europe and encourage greater interest in non-national literary works. The Prize is financed by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, which aims to promote cross-border mobility of those working in the cultural sector, encourage the transnational circulation of cultural and artistic output and foster intercultural dialogue.

On Human Rights Day, EIBF proudly presents its Freedom of Expression Charter, following a month-long campaign highlighting cases of book censorship around the world.

 

Over the past month, in the lead up to Human Rights Day, we have presented different cases of book censorship around the world to highlight that violations of freedom of expression are still very prevalent and our work must continue in fighting back against any attempts to prevent the publication and sale of books.

The cases we have highlighted are the following:

 

• Hungary

The first case in our campaign concerned two children’s books in Hungary. Since 2020, children’s books have been affected by the government’s anti-LGBTI laws, which prohibits books featuring same-sex relationships and transgender people to be displayed in a way easily accessible to children or sold within 200 metres of a church.

As an example, a bookshop which sold author Lawrence Schimel’s books “Early One Morning” and “Bedtime, Not Playtime!,” (Micsoda család! in Hungarian) featuring rainbow families, was fined for not disclaiming that the book depicted “a family that is different than a normal family.” The second book, “A Fairy Tale for Everyone,” an anthology featuring 17 fairy tales re-imagining classic stories in an inclusive and representative way, received homophobic abuse by politicians, including Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

 

This is just two cases of how authors, publishers and booksellers are targeted by censorship. Since then, the ambiguity and vagueness of the anti-LGBTI law has forced many Hungarian bookshops to self-censor out of fear of receiving hefty government fines.

 

• Hong Kong

The second case of our campaign on Freedom Of Expression focused on Lam Wing-Kee, a Hong-Kong bookseller who was the subject of censorship from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Mr Lam’s bookshop Causeway Bay Books had been running in Hong-Kong for decades, selling books that were deemed unlawful in mainland China, and defying the oppression of the government

In 2015, Mr Lam was one of five booksellers and publishers who disappeared from various locations in Hong-Kong, Thailand and mainland China. Another one of them was Gui Minhai. They all re-emerged in different Chinese detention centres, accused of selling titles critical to the CCP. Fearing extradition to China, in 2019 Mr Lam escaped to Taiwan, where he has recreated his bookshop. This space has become a gathering place for advocates of freedom of expression, democracy and human rights.

 

 

• Belarus

The third case of our campaign on Freedom Of Expression focuses on cases of book-banning, bookshop searches and overall censorship in Belarus.

The country has been experiencing a crackdown on freedom of speech, freedom to publish and freedom to sell books. The situation has particularly aggravated since the 2020 protests. Earlier this year, we expressed concern over the erosion of freedom of speech in Belarus in a joint statement with the International Publishers Association (IPA) and the Federation of European Publishers (FEP) which was recognised by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Belarusian president-elect and leader of the Belarusian democratic movement.

In our statement, we condemned the detention of publisher and bookshop owner Andrey Yanushkevich and his associate Nasta Karnatskaya, who were arrested for selling copies of 1984 in their bookshop. 1984 is only one of many titles that were deemed inappropriate by Belarusian regime: the regime’s list of ‘extremist materials’ contains more than a thousand different items.

Both Andrey Yanushkevich and Nasta Karnatskaya spent time behind bars for the simple act of selling books. According to the latest reports, Yanushkevich is now safe and no longer in Belarus. Nevertheless, the Belarusian authoritarian regime is still in power, and book censorship remains a reality in the country.

 

• USA

The last case of our freedom of expression campaign showcases how book censorship isn’t just an issue in autocratic countries with limited freedoms. The banning on certain titles in the USA highlights how even in democracies, access to books is being challenged.

Since the 1960s, Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” has been the most censored book in the country. The reasons for its banning have changed over the years (from originally being “immoral” and “improper for children”, to now its racist language and romanticisation of a “white saviour” complex), but the attempts to prevent it from being read primarily at schools still occurs in the present.

However, the case of Harper Lee’s famous novel isn’t a mere exception, with cases of book censorship still being frequent across the US. According to PEN America, 1,586 book bans across 26 states were reported between July 2021 and March 2022 alone, with more than 2 million students affected. In most cases, books are removed in response to complaints and criticisms from parent groups and other organizations.

These numbers make it clear that book censorship in the US is more present than ever.

 

 

All of these cases show that EIBF's work on Freedom of Expression is sadly not over and must continue. With our newly unveiled Freedom of Expression Charter and guiding principles we emphasise our continuous commitment, as a voice for European and international booksellers, to protect the fundamental right to freedom of expression along with the freedom to publish and sell books.

EIBF welcomes the EU’s green light to the long-awaited directive on a minimum corporate tax rate, which will ensure that large multinational corporations, such as Amazon, pay their fair share in taxes.

 

Last night, on December 12th, the 27 EU member states reached an agreement on a 15% minimum corporate tax rate for large multinational corporations, which is expected to include the GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple).

For the past decades, the digitalisation of the economy has allowed large multinational companies to strategically avoid paying taxes, for instance by moving their headquarters and profits to low-tax countries, while smaller businesses, including bookshops, have diligently and fairly contributed to their countries’ economies.

To tackle these aggressive tax planning and tax avoidance practices, 137 countries, including all EU countries and the G20, reached an unprecedented agreement in October 2021 on a system of global taxation based on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) two-pillar plan. This was followed by the European Commission's proposal in December 2021 for a Directive to ensure a minimum effective tax rate for large multinational companies, i.e., corporations present in multiple countries with an annual turnover of at least €750 million. The directive stipulates that the profits of these corporations will be taxed at a minimum rate of 15%.

EIBF has followed the developments closely and contributed to the relevant consultations, reminding policymakers of the abusive tax practices of large multinationals, which have often come at the expense of SMEs’ fair and continuous contributions. Yesterday’s agreement marks the end of a long and tedious negotiation process between member states, and we are pleased to see it is in line with our general ambition to strive for a fair level playing field on all areas where booksellers meet, as well as compete, with said multinationals.

 

You can find our full statement attached.