Supporting ‘rights that we constantly must fight for’, this year’s IPA Prix Voltaire shortlistees come from five international markets.

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

The 2025 Laureate Is To Be Named at WEXFO

Announced this afternoon (April 11) on the opening day of the 2025 Festival du Livre de Paris, the International Publishers Association‘s (IPA) shortlist for its increasingly influential Prix Voltaire features six publishers from Algeria, Belarus, Lebanon, Russia, and the United States.

As we reported in February, the Prix Voltaire winner will be named during the course of the  World Expression Forum, called WEXFO, at Lillehammer (June 2 and 3).

Kristenn Einarsson is not only chair of the IPA’s Freedom to Publish committee but also the founding CEO of WEXFO. On the news released in Paris today, he says, “The freedom to publish is vital if the freedom of expression is to exist in practice and if the freedom to read is to be enjoyed fully.

“The IPA Prix Voltaire recognizes those publishers who fight for their freedom to publish, for their freedom to recognize the remarkable work of a creator and to try to bring it to readers.

“As we see from the world around us the freedom of expression can erode very quickly with obvious influence on the Freedom to Publish. These are rights that we constantly must fight for, and as a number of publishers in our shortlist this year suggest, from exile if necessary.”

Einarsson’s reference to exile recognizes the fact that half these shortlistees this year are living outside their own countries for safety, as tides of far-right autocratic dynamics rise. In such cases, authoritarian regimes of course will use book bannings, threats of legal action, and more to try to intimidate publishers (and their readers) from engaging with earnest political writing, in particular.

In Paris, this afternoon, where the festival is making its return to the soaring renovated Grand Palais this year,  the new shortlist is being released as part of a seminar program titled The Book: A Form of Resistance. That event was opened at 3 p.m. CEST with a video message from the Tunisian journalist and human-rights activist Sihem Bensedrine, the 2009 Prix Voltaire laureate. There was also commentary from Bensedrine’s daughter, Essia Mestiri.

There was concern addressed, not unexpectedly, for the imprisoned Franco-Algerian author Boualem Sansal amid industry calls for his immediate release.

And a final discussion on the new Democracy Depends on Reading project spearheaded by WEXFO closed the session in which the shortlistees were named. In that “Dem-Read” conversation, Einarsson spoke with the French publisher Laurence Faron (Éditions Talents Hauts).

The 2025 IPA Prix Voltaire Shortlist

Following the shortlist here, we’ll embed the announcement video below, for those who would like to know more. We appreciate the background material provided to the various news media by the IPA’s James Taylor, who directs the Prix Voltaire. This background material is in quotes below.

Mohamad Hadi, Dar Al Rafidain, Lebanon

“Mohamad Hadi founded Dar Al Rafidain in Beirut in 2004, along with the Al-Rafidain First Book Award—the latter of which was designed to help younger authors find opportunities to publish their early works.

“Amid the ongoing armed conflict, Hadi and his team continue to work in a high–risk environment, shipping books and participating in book fairs.

“In October 2024, the main office of Dar Al-Rafidain was bombed and completely destroyed.”

Amar Ingrachen, Frantz Fanon, Algeria

Nadja Kandrusevich, Koska, Belarus—living in Sweden

“Nadja Kandrusevich founded Koska, a children’s book publisher, in Belarus in 2018. The press’ goal was to provide literature in Belarusian that promotes free thinking and escape from oppression.

“In a market dominated by Russian-language publishing and strict regulation, the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election saw Koska have publications seized and offices closed.

“Since 2022 Kandrusevich has continued her work in exile, still reaching Belarusian children back at home.”

Michel Moushabeck, Interlink Publishing, United States

“Michel S. Moushabeck is a writer, editor, translator, publisher, and musician of Palestinian descent.

“The founder of Interlink Publishing in Northampton, Massachusetts, he has devoted his life to publishing and amplifying marginalized and underrepresented voices with a goal of furthering the cultural understanding of their experiences.

“Each year, Interlink Publishing publishes one humanitarian book and donates profits to a worthy cause.”

Dmitri Strotsev, Hochroth Minsk, Belarus—living in Germany

“Dmitri Strotsev is an award-winning Belarusian poet, publisher, and activist.

“After his publishing house Vinograd lost its license, he continued as an underground publisher, resisting state censorship.

“Arrested in October 2020, he subsequently faced threats and restrictions on his work. Forced into exile, he relocated to Berlin and founded Hochroth Minsk as a platform on which Belarusian and exiled writers can publish their works freely.”

Georgy Urushadze, Freedom Letters, Russia—living in the United Kingdom

“Georgy Urushadze is a publisher, producer, and journalist. Founder of the house Palmira in 2002, Urushadze has gone from being an important figure in the Russian literary scene to being declared by Moscow a ‘foreign agent.’

“In early 2023, Urushadze founded Freedom Letters. Despite Web site blocks and book bans, Freedom Letters uses various channels to circumvent censorship and deliver books to Russia, both physically and digitally.”

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)

To find out how you or your organization can support the IPA Prix Voltaire, contact prix-voltaire@internationalpublishers.org.

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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 International Publishers Association’s world media partner.