In his speech, Hoepli underlined IPA work around the freedom to publish, and copyright, particularly artificial intelligence.
Playing on the respective themes of the fair and the Guest of Honour programme, Hoepli said:
What makes book fairs so special are these opportunities for us all to meet, to talk, to discover books from other cultures, with different visions. Our books are very much Created by Humans as this fair’s theme would have it.
We live in an age of disinformation. But as publishers, unlike the tech giants, we take responsibility for what we publish. We support deep, critical reading, which allows citizens to understand complex realities. And we defend the freedom to publish — because democracy requires the free exchange of diverse and even uncomfortable ideas. Democracy depends on reading. And therefore, democracy depends on the written word — and on all of us who ensure that books, knowledge, and ideas remain accessible and diverse. I hope we can all agree on that as a Shared Horizon, to borrow the Italian Guest of Honour motto.