On 27 August, IPA Secretary General, José Borghino, was invited to headline the inaugural event in a seminar series on the subject of Freedom to Publish for the IPA’s Malaysian member, the Malaysian Book Publishers Association (MABOPA).
IPA interviewed Emmanuel Pierrat, a French lawyer specialising in freedom of expression and President of the French PEN Club about his book Codification of Freedom of Expression (Code de la liberté d’expression, Anne Rideau Editions), released in France in April 2018. We talked to him about the book and the links between well-intentioned laws and restrictions on freedom of expression.
During the 38th United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva at the end of June, PEN International held a parallel event (video here) to promote its recently published investigation into defamation laws in Africa. Read more.
Taking place from 23-29 September, banned book week is being promoted in the US and the UK.
IPA laments the murder of Shahzahan Bachchu, and the continued insecurity faced by Bangladeshi authors and publishers. We send his family and friends our sincere condolences. The international publishing community implores the Bangladeshi authorities to fully investigate this murder and work to reassure publishers that they can work in safety.
Since the founding of the IPA, the freedom to publish has been one of its two core pillars. The other pillar is copyright. These two pillars are symbiotic. What good is copyright if you do not have the freedom to publish the works for which you hold the copyright? Equally, what good is the freedom to publish if you cannot choose how those publications are made available and make a living from that work?
The 11th Istanbul Gathering took place on 26 and 27 May. Unfortunately, the current situation in Turkey made it impossible to bring the invited speakers to Istanbul, but the organisers would not be beaten, and the event took place on-line.
The IPA is very happy to publish an extract from the contribution by IPA Secretary General, José Borghino, and Chair of the IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee, Kristenn Einarsson, to the book Publishers on Publishing, which was published during the IPA Congress in New Delhi earlier this year.