Andrej Januškevič
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Januškevič: ‘Comfort to Citizens of Our Homeland’
The Association of American Publishers (AAP), based in Washington, has announced today (September 27) that Belarus’ Januškevič Publishing House is the winner of the organization’s 2024 International Freedom to Publish Award.
Last year’s award—announced in January of this year—went to “all publishing houses that continue to publish in the in the face of increased government pressure, harassment, and threats in multiple countries and regions of the world.” The rationale for not specifying a recipient, the association said, was that potential nominees had said they were worried about public recognition leading to reprisals from local governments.
This year’s recipient, Andrej Januškevič, has operated from Poland since being arrested and imprisoned for 28 days in 2022 by the regime of Aleksandr Lukashenko. In 2023, Minsk revoked Januškevič’s publishing license, one of many acts of censorship and intimidation taken by the state against literary professionals and other creative workers.
As Publishing Perspectives readers know, in August 2020, Lukashenko had declared that he would continue in the role of president for a sixth term. That “re-election” has been refused recognition by members of the European Parliament, the governments of Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Many of the Belarusian creative community were involved in a widespread resistance to the administration’s brutality.
Related article: At Norway’s WEXFO: IPA Names Its Prix Voltaire 2024 Shortlist. Image: Publishing Perspectives, Porter Anderson
Januškevič is one of the shortlisted nominees for the International Publishers Association‘s (IPA) Prix Voltaire, which—like the AAP award announced today. That shortlist was announced on May 27 in Lillehammer during this year’s World Expression Forum (WEXFO), the founding CEO of which, the Norwegian publisher Kristenn Einarsson chairs the IPA’s Freedom to Publish award.
As Andrej Januškevič’s inclusion in the Prix Voltaire’s nominations and his win today from AAP indicate, the two awards are similarly positioned to call attention to the kind of oppression and sometimes life-threatening danger that can be aimed at those operating in creativity and communication in politically and/or socially charged spheres.
Pallante: ‘Preserving and Celebrating a Language’
In her commentary on today’s news, Maria A. Pallante, AAP’s president and CEO, says, “This year we recognize a publishing house of extraordinary persistence and courage
Maria A. Pallante
“The leaders of Januškevič Publishing House have braved censorship, suffered incarceration, and endured exile, all in service of their mission to provide readers with literature in the Belarusian language.
“Together, the board, membership, and staff of the AAP applaud Januškevič for preserving and celebrating a language that has long been under attack, and for demonstrating why the freedom to publish is an essential element of democratic society.”
And Januškevič, speaking for his company, takes advantage of the moment to affirm his commitment to his mission.
“We are honored to accept AAP’s Freedom to Publish Award,” he says, “and we are thankful for the acknowledgment of our work in Belarus and in exile.
“The Belarusian language illuminates our culture and heritage, and together with our friends and colleagues at other houses that have seen their licenses revoked—including Limaryus, Knihazbor, Haliyafy, Medysont and Zmicier Kolas—we vow to keep that light alive in hopes that it may serve as a beacon, giving comfort to citizens of our homeland, and hope to those who must live in exile.”
Contextual Notes From AAP
Those who have followed the work of the European Writers’ Council and its commissioner for political affairs, Nina George, are familiar with the struggles of publishers in Belarus.
In May 2022, for example, the IPA, Federation of European Publishers, and European and International Booksellers Federation all were working to raise the alarm about detentions and other oppressive moves as Januškevič and his associate Nasta Karnatskaya were detained after opening a bookstore in Minsk.
In its media messaging today, the AAP provides useful information for those catching up to the crisis in Belarus.
In terms of censorship in Lukashenko’s autocracy, for example, the Association of American Publishers writes, “Most independent publishing houses in Belarus were forced to close in the latter half of 2020 after heavily contested national elections that cemented the power of longtime Russian ally Alexandr Lukashenko.
“In 2020, Belarus’ authoritarian government commenced an intensified campaign of censoring publishers that promoted Belarusian identity, language, or history, or published texts in Belarusian. Currently just over a quarter of the country’s population speak Belarusian as part of their daily lives. It is now officially a vulnerable tongue according to UNESCO (page 37).”
As is its custom, the AAP confirms today that the winner of its International Freedom to Publish Award does win a cash prize, the amount of which is not revealed. The award was created in honor of Jeri Laber, a co-founder of Human Rights Watch and founding member of AAP’s Freedom to Publish committee.
Past recipients of the AAP award include:
- Venezuela-based Editorial Dahbar in 2022
- Guatemala-based F&G Editores in 2021
- Bangladesh-based Jagriti Publishing House in 2020
- South Africa-based NB Publishers in 2019
- A London publisher of censored Iranian authors, Azadeh Parsapour.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the work of the Association of American Publishers is here. For more on international recognition of publishing valor in the face of oppression and threat, see the work of the International Publishers Association (IPA), which confers the annual Prix Voltaire, under the auspices of its own Freedom to Publish committee chaired by Kristenn Einarsson, with the direction of James Taylor.
Publishing Perspectives is the International Publishers Association’s world media partner.