Frankfurt: IPA launches new Freedom of Expression Defenders Award

The new award, which will be delivered for the first time at Frankfurt Book Fair in 2026, will recognize companies or organisations related to the book sector who have demonstrated their commitment to the freedom of expression, the freedom to publish and the freedom to read in their activities. An example might be a coalition who fought against restrictive laws, or an organization that organizes an event to raise awareness about the above-mentioned freedoms.

You can read more about the prize and how it sits alongside the Prix Voltaire here.

The launch event featured a strong line-up of speakers all from initiatives promoting freedom of expression.

IPA President, Gvantsa Jobava said: The freedom of expression, the freedom to publish and the freedom to read are a fragile trinity of freedoms. Preserving them requires constant vigilance and, we at the International Publishers Association are proud to launch a new prize that recognises those people, companies, associations and organisations that defend these freedoms so that we can enjoy them.

Pen International President, Burhan Sönmez said: What does it mean that the whole world is facing the rise of auturanism, discrimination and hatred? Didn't we go through this worrying situation in the past[…]? When the language of politics divides nations and builds new wars between countries, then we feel that there is a need for building bridges between people […]. Arts, literature, books, movies, and songs are the basis of the world that we defend and offer to go beyond borders and create a better world for everyone.

Christian Ebert, Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Frankfurter Buchmesse, stepping in for an unwell Juergen Boos said: The fact that this award will be presented in Frankfurt in from 2026 onwards is more just than a practical and organizational issue. It is a commitment for us. For decades, the fair has been the place where the IPA comes together here in Frankfurt. And it is a place where the three freedoms, that guide us are constantly being renegotiated, the freedom of expression, the freedom of publication, and the freedom of reading.

Yulia Kozlovets, Director of the International Book Arsenal Festival (IBAF), Kyiv, Ukraine said: A war in our country started in 2014 […] we see that when the aggressor has no answer, […], they are going further. And now it's not enough […] to stand altogether. We need to be more active and we need to be more proactive. We need to also to memorize those who are killed, who paid their lives for the freedom of expression. But we also need to […] celebrate those who are still living, who are with us, who are writing now, who are publishing, now, for all of us, for the freedom for expression.

Arizza Anne Nocum, head of the Programme Committee of the World Expression Forum said: With books, I have learned to care, I have learned to learn, I've learned to ask questions, I've learned to feel. I would not be doing this work and fighting this fight, if not for the work that publishers do, that writers do, that authors do. And this freedom and all other freedoms to write and to read and to speak and to make art, are the freedoms that we defend and that we promote at the World Expression Forum.

Kristenn Einarsson, co-founder of the project Democracies Depend on Reading said: Two years ago, Slovenia was a guest of honor at Frankfurt Book Fair and I went to a session on the Lubljana Reading Manifesto. It tells us that if you want to keep a democracy, you have to ensure that you have citizens who can participate and defend it. And to do that, they have to be readers.

Martina Stemann, the new Managing Director of the Freedom of Expression Foundation said: Books are among the first things that authoritarian movements seek to ban or burn because publishing, selling, and reading books is an act of cultural openness and plurality. Because authors, editors, booksellers, and librarians are quite literally the guardians of free exchange of ideas. If we want a society that celebrates difference and diversity we in the book sector must play a visible role in defending it.

The launch was preceded by a well-attended Open Freedom to Publish Meeting which was the opportunity for the IPA's Freedom to Publish Committee to present its work over the last year as well as to hear updates from the range of countries present.

The following day saw IPA host a session on the Centre Stage entitled What can we do to resist the attacks on the Trinity of Freedoms? which was moderated by Porter Anderson of Publishing Perspectives and featured Anke Steinecke, Penguin Random House (USA), Jaeho Kang, Korean Publishers Association (Korea) and Sherif Bakr, Al Arabi (Egypt).

You can read interviews by Publishing Perspectivesand Publishers Weeklywith IPA President, Gvantsa Jobava, and with Kristenn Einarsson, chair of the IPA's Freedom to Publish Committee, here.

Photo credit: Holger Menzel