AAP International Freedom to Publish Award 

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) awarded its 2026 International Freedom to Publish Award to Avesta Publishing House, a Turkish publisher. The award recognizes a publisher outside of the United States who has demonstrated courage and fortitude in defending freedom of expression. This recognition makes Avesta the first publisher to receive the AAP award twice, as Avesta was the 2005 Freedom to Publish Award recipient, and in 2019 the house was honored in the “Publisher” category of the Turkish Publishers Association’s “Freedom of Thought and Expression Awards.”

Avesta Publishing House, established in Istanbul in 1995 with the guiding principle of “In Search of Lost Cultures,” has an impressive portfolio of over 900 books published in various languages. Their work focuses primarily on Kurdish literature and the history and traditions of the Kurdish people. Since 1997, the organization has operated under difficult conditions, including threats, lawsuits, harassment, and the suppression of its publications. In 2016, their warehouse in Sur/Diyarbakır was sabotaged, leading to the destruction of more than 3,000 books and the closure of their bookstore. Additionally, in 2023, their website was blocked based on false claims of promoting “terrorist propaganda.” Between 2017 and 2025, local courts banned over 20 of their published works, such as “Burhan’s Book: I Left My Soul in That Land,” “Martys, Traitors and Patriots – Kurdistan from the Gulf War to the Present Day”, and “The Daughters of Kobani: A Story of Rebellion, Courage and Justice.”

Maria A. Pallante, President and CEO of the Association of American Publishers, commented: We are moved to celebrate Avesta’s brave, decades-long struggle because it underscores an essential fact: the battle for free expression is central to freedom more generally but is never truly won. It must be fought over and over, day by day, and decade after decade. On behalf of AAP’s Board of Directors, membership, and staff, I thank Avesta’s leadership and entire team for setting the standard for bravery, stamina and determination. Read more here. 

Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels

The German Book Trade 2026 awarded its Peace Prize (Friedenpreis) to Phillipe Sands, a French-British lawyer and author. The Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers and Booksellers Association) has awarded the Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels (Peace Prize of the German Book Trade) every year since 1950 on the final day of the Frankfurt Book Fair. The award is endowed with €25.000.

Sebastian Guggolz, Börsenverein Chair, drew attention to Philippe Sands’ two roles, noting that as a lawyer at the International Criminal Court, Sands strives for clear and definitive outcomes, with legal rulings necessarily bringing clarity to a diffuse set of facts. As an author of narrative non-fiction, however, Guggolz argues that Sands has found a form of expression that brings rendered judgments back into their full complexity. For Philippe Sands the lawyer, Guggolz noted, the opportunity to convey a story in narrative form serves as a liberating force; it unleashed his joy in storytelling, revealing his masterful grasp of ambiguous situations and people – perpetrators and victims alike – who are entangled in injustice and must live with its repercussions and consequences.

In his acceptance speech, titled “The Albatross of Silence,” Sands stated: [t]o kill as a war crime or a crime against humanity is not less grave than a genocide. These are all terrible crimes. They demand accountability and must be called out. He also offered the following reflections: This is what I know: silence is not the way. Not for a family. Not for a community. Not for a country. Which is where law and literature come together, telling stories, opening minds, bringing truth to power, confronting prejudice and double standards, excavating matters that some wish to hide. He concluded his address with the words: Let us know that silence shall hang like an albatross around our necks. The full speeches and official greetings can be accessed online here. 

New Partnership Between PEN International and the Ibero-American Group of Publishers

PEN International has joined forces with the Ibero-American Group of Publishers in a newly established partnership aimed at bolstering collaboration among writers, publishers, and PEN Centres throughout Latin America and Spain. This initiative is aimed at promoting and safeguarding freedom of expression, editorial independence, and the freedom to publish.

This partnership lays the foundation for ongoing regional collaboration, where PEN International and the Ibero-American Group of Publishers will work together to promote literature while also monitoring instances of censorship and assaults on freedom of expression and editorial freedom. They will evaluate reported cases and raise awareness about violations, and when appropriate, coordinate advocacy efforts and support strategies for authors and publishers who face censorship, persecution, or other risks due to their ideas or work.

José Ignacio Echeverría, President of the Iberoamerican Group of Publishers, stated: Books exist because ideas find people willing to write, publish and share them. Our partnership with PEN International brings together two communities that believe deeply in protecting that freedom. We are proud to join forces and strengthen solidarity across Ibero-America and beyond. Read more here. 

WEXFO Report 

The World Expression Forum (WEXFO) has released its report on the 2026 edition of the WEXFO Conference, held under the theme The Freedom to Disagree. WEXFO works to promote and defend freedom of expression as an absolute precondition for democracy and human progress. Based in Lillehammer, Norway, WEXFO brings together journalists, writers, publishers, researchers, artists, civil society organizations, policymakers, and young leaders from around the world.

The report highlights WEXFO’s growing impact on the global freedom of expression community, with key figures illustrating the reach of its activities: Nearly 300 participants from 47 countries gathered at the WEXFO conference 2026; More than 1,600 young people engaged through WEXFO Youth activities; WEXFO activities and events delivered to a total of 3,235 participants; More than 2 million social media impressions generated across digital platforms.

Iguana Trosholmen, CEO of WEXFO, stated: The strength of WEXFO lies in connecting people, organizations, and ideas across borders and differences. Freedom of expression is strengthened when its defenders share knowledge, learn from each other’s experiences, find inspiration and build networks. This is our most important weapon against authoritarian forces. Read more here. 

Sweden: 11 Years of the Imprisonment of Swedish Publisher Gui Minhai 

Marking eleven years since the detention of Swedish publisher Gui Minhai on 17 October 2015, the Swedish Publishers Association announced a digital demonstration to renew calls for attention to his case and to spotlight the challenges and risks faced by publishers under threat around the world. Read more here. 

Mexico: IPA Backs PRH Grupo Editorial in New Freedom to Publish Case

Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) ruling over Karla de la Cuesta’s 2024 non-fiction, investigative book Todo a la luz (Everything in the Light) imposed restrictions on the use of the name and image of an individual cited in the book, as well as imposed a fine on the publisher and threats of further sanctions in the event of continued distribution.

Jessica Sänger, Chair of the IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee, said: Both authors and publishers of non-fiction books are consistently targeted by SLAPPs in many jurisdictions. The case of the Todo a la Luz by Karla de la Cuesta shows how all legal and administrative routes to limiting a book’s circulation are considered, even the most untenable. The IPA fully supports Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial’s freedom to publish and will back them in their judicial appeal against this incomprehensible ruling. Read more here. 

Georgia: IPA Urges Georgian Government to Reconsider Single Textbook Policy 

Following amendments to the law on primary and secondary education adopted by Parliament earlier this year, Georgian schools will shift, by 2028, to single textbooks per subject provided by the government rather than taking advantage of the diversity and expertise of local educational publishers.

Christoph Pienkoss, Chair of the IPA’s Educational Publishers Forum, stated: The best educational outcomes – both in terms of didactics and of cost-efficiency – are achieved when governments collaborate with teachers and publishers to provide a range of educational resources that secure choice for teachers and pupils. Single textbook policies don’t do this, they deprive teachers of a broad range of expertise that can support them in their work, and the ratio between quality and costs is always negative. Read more here. 

United States: Nearly 12,000 Book Bans in Public Schools During the 2025-26 School Year

PEN America published a new report based on its Index of School Book Bans, revealing that 11,982 books were banned in public schools during the 2025-26 school year in the United States, reaching the highest number of recorded bans in a single year since the organisation began tracking book bans in 2021. This shocking figure reveals a worsening of the crisis surrounding book bans and the ongoing risks facing the literary sector, which is affecting the creative work of more than 4,000 authors, illustrators, and translators. The report highlights that 58% of the banned books are aimed at Young Adults titles and 87% are works of fiction. The targeted books are mainly about race, racism, LGBTQ+ people or characters, people or characters of color, and sex. 

The majority of recorded book bans this school year came from Texas and Florida, where special interest groups, state laws, and politicians have converged to pressure school districts to restrict and remove access to books. In Texas, the effects of SB 13, a book ban law passed in 2025, are clearly visible, as the state presents the highest number of bans – more than 8,000. Unfortunately, legislation is not the only reason for the crisis, as political pressure emerges from politicians and other political groups at schools. The report also shows that once book removals are imposed in one district, similar removals are replicated in other ones.

Another impressive trend has been the use of AI to decide whether a book should be banned or not. Instead of an expert, district administrations consult AI tools to respond to vague and unclear directives from state departments of education and state legislation. The Texas Freedom to Read Project revealed that generative AI recommends the removal of books because they were already banned by other districts, and not because the books are obscene under the prevailing legal standard. According to PEN America, by using keyword and web searches for commonly banned books, AI tools scrape lists of titles without consideration for nuance, context, or intent, speeding up censorship. Read more here. 

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