At the World Expression Forum’s gala dinner in Lillehammer, Kristenn Einarsson and Bodour Al Qasimi, then the president of the International Publishers Association, announce the 2022 winner of the IPA’s Prix Voltaire. Image: Publishing Perspectives: Porter Anderson
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Prix Voltaire Nominations Close February 23
In a recent article, we had early notice of this year’s new dates (June 2 and 3) for the World Expression Forum, called WEXFO, at Lillehammer.
The International Publishers Association‘s (IPA) unique Prix Voltaire program will award the 2025 honor during the course of WEXFO in Norway. And the period for nominations for this award that recognizes “exemplary courage in upholding the freedom to publish and enabling others to exercise their freedom of expression” opened on January 9 and will close on February 23.
The Prix Voltaire was initially awarded in 2006 under a different name. Over the years—now one year shy of its 20th anniversary—the recognition has become one of the highest-visibility elements of IPA’s programming.
It calls attention to freedom-to-publish advocates and practitioners in many parts of the world—some of them imprisoned by totalitarian regimes for their work in books, some of them detained and “disappeared” by authoritarian governments afraid of the power of publishing and the freedom to read.
The IPA 2025 IPA Prix Voltaire ceremony will take place at the World Expression Forum, WEXFO (June 2 and 3) in Lillehammer. Kristenn Einarsson, of course, the founding CEO of WEXFO, which this time will be in its fourth year, is also the IPA’s Freedom to Publish committee chair.
About this year’s round of nominations, Einarsson says, “We look forward to receiving nominations about these publishers so that we can celebrate their bravery and inspire others to stand up for the freedom to publish, the freedom of expression and the freedom to read.”
James Taylor
With the direction of IPA’s James Taylor, the nine members of the Freedom to Publish committee then create a longlist before agreeing on a shortlist and selecting the 2025 laureate.
Nominations should be submitted by email at prix-voltaire@internationalpublishers.org, using this application form.
Prix Voltaire Laureates to Date
| Year | Prix Voltaire Laureate | Special Award |
| 2024 | Samir Mansour (Palestine) | Victoria Amelina (Ukraine) |
| 2023 | Mazin Lateef Ali (Iraq) | Volodymyr Vakulenko (Ukraine) |
| 2022 | Same Sky Books (Thailand) | |
| 2021 | Dar Al Jadeed (Lebanon) | Li Liqun (China) |
| 2020 | Liberal Publishing House (Vietnam) | |
| 2019 | Khaled Lotfy (Egypt) | |
| 2018 | Gui Minhai (Sweden / Hong Kong | Faisal Arefin Dipan (Bangladesh), Liu Xiaobo (China) |
| 2017 | Turhan Günay and publishing house Evrensel | |
| 2016 | Raif Badawi (Saudi Arabia) | |
| 2014 | Ihar Lohvinau (Belarus) | |
| 2012 | “Zapiro” (South Africa) | |
| 2011 | Bui Chat (Vietnam) | |
| 2010 | I. Shovkhalov and V. Kogan-Yasni of DOSH (Chechnya / Russia) | |
| 2009 | S Bensedrine, N. Rijba, M. Talbi, Founders of OLPEC (Tunisia) | Irfran Sanci (Turkey) |
| 2008 | Ragip Zarakolu (Turkey) | |
| 2007 | Trevor Ncube (Zimbabwe) | Anna Politkovskaya (Russia), Hrant Dink (Turkey) |
| 2006 | Shalah Lahiji (Iran) |
2025 Prix Voltaire Sponsors
- Albert Bonniers Förlag (Sweden)
- Holtzbrinck (Germany)
- Penguin Random House
- C.H.Beck (Germany)
More sponsors from the world publishing community are always needed to support the unparalleled efforts of the Prix Voltaire program and its annual cash award of 10,000 Swiss francs (US$10,966). It continues to be the case that a very small number of world publishers become donors.
To find out how you or your organization can support the IPA Prix Voltaire, contact prix-voltaire@internationalpublishers.org.
More from Publishing Perspectives on issues of the freedom to publish and freedom of expression is here, more on the Prix Voltaire is here, and on the International Publishers Association is here. More on the World Expression Forum, WEXFO, is here.
Publishing Perspectives is the global media partner of the International Publishers Association.