The Leipzig Book Fair, one of the most important European literary events of the year, will also be attended by Russian authors in April, despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It means that they will meet their Ukrainian colleagues there, announced the head of the event, Oliver Zille.
He justified the decision by saying that the fair is open to everyone who respects constitutional principles and fights for an open society. Only Russian publishing houses and Russian state organizations will not be represented in Leipzig.
“In the approach to Russia, the de facto situation is that no Russian publishing house or any Russian state organization applied for the fair, so I didn’t have to react to it,” Zille explains. “However, if that were to happen, we would not allow a Russian state organization at the fair. Private publishers would, however,” he explains.
According to Zille, many Russians publish with German publishers because they live in Germany or other European countries, often in exile. Some Russian writers can come to Leipzig directly from Russia, if the situation allows them and if they receive an invitation from their publishers. “In Leipzig, it will be so that Russian and Ukrainian authors will meet. But we will not confine them to their own panel debates,” explains the head of the fair.
He admits that sensitive situations may arise. “We are an open fair and we do not want to restrict authors who fight for an open society and who raise their voice against the situation in Russia and the war in Ukraine,” explains Zille. As an example, he named the 50-year-old Russian poet and essayist Marija Stěpanová, who will receive the Prize for European Understanding in Leipzig. Stěpanová is well-known in German literary circles, last fall in Berlin she and her German translator Olga Radetzkaja received the Brücke Berlin literary and translation award for the book Memory of Memory. For a change, the Czech translation by Alena Machoninová was published by the Akropolis publishing house.
This year, the Leipzig Book Fair is preparing a Ukrainian program organized and financed by the branches of the German Goethe-Institut in Kyiv and Munich. There will also be a Ukrainian stand in Leipzig. However, Oliver Zille advises that the final list of Ukrainian participants is not ready yet due to the war in Ukraine. He expects Ukrainian poet and writer Oksana Zabužko or author Táňa Malyarčuk to arrive, among others.
The fair wants to pay the same attention to Belarusian authors as to Russians who defend an open society. “This is also an important topic that we must not forget. That is why Belarusian authors will be at the fair, for example Svetlana Alexijevičová,” mentions Zille, a dissident and winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Alexievich openly supports the supply of weapons for the defense of Ukraine. Because she was persecuted by the regime of Belarusian authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, she had to take refuge in Germany, where she lives. Since her arrest in September 2020 at the height of the protests in Minsk, she has been protected by EU diplomats, including the ambassadors of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. They stayed in her apartment at the time to prevent the regime from interfering.
Regarding the restriction of participation in the fair, Oliver Zille says that it is a complex topic, as many controversial authors and publishers are protected by freedom of speech and the constitution. “As long as they comply with German laws and are not officially banned, they can in principle participate in the fair,” explains Zille. Because of this, however, the fair has introduced a new format called the Open Society Forum, with which it intends to speak out against hatred. The Leipzig Book Fair will take place from April 27 to 30, this year will be the first full-fledged one since the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic. The Czech Republic will not be missing either, which traditionally also participates in the accompanying author’s reading festival Leipzig liest, translated as Leipzig reads.
