NEW YORK (AP) — The commerce group for U.S. e book publishers is honoring a dissident Russian home for its battle in opposition to censorship and oppression.
The Affiliation of American Publishers introduced Friday that it was presenting its annual Worldwide Freedom to Publish Award to Freedom Letters and its founder, Georgy Urushadze, a onetime literary prize official in Moscow who fled in 2022 after opposing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and being designated a “foreign agent” by the Russian authorities.
“Georgy Urushadze has made extraordinary sacrifices in the name of free expression, demonstrated remarkable tenacity in building a thriving publishing house while in exile, and inspired people around the world with his fierce dedication to publishing authors that others have tried to silence,” Maria A. Pallante, the AAP’s president and CEO, stated in an announcement.
Run partly by dozens of volunteers, Freedom Letters operates out of Ukraine, Latvia, Georgia and different areas, and has launched a whole bunch of works in Russian and Ukrainian by anti-war writers and different opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Notable works embody “Last But Not Final Words,” a compilation of statements by Russian political prisoners, and Olga Grebennik’s “The War Diary,” a graphic novel concerning the Russian invasion.
Freedom Letters is banned in Russia and a number of other of its authors are going through legal costs. Urushadze has stated he’s nonetheless in a position to promote books in Russia via on-line shops.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that in the present day’s award sends a message of hope to all those that imagine, as we do, that each e book that reaches a reader is proof that tales can survive borders, bans, and worry,” Urushadze stated in an announcement.
Earlier recipients of the publishing award embody Editorial Dahbar in Venezuela and NB Publishers in South Africa.
