Focus on Free Speech

The Gothenburg Book Fair has chosen freedom of speech as the theme for 2016. To bring attention to the issue, book publishing group Bonnierförlagen has chosen to focus on four prominent people who have been deprived of the right to express themselves freely. The group is also inviting authors to its stand at the book fair to offer their own interpretations of what freedom of speech means. The results will be auctioned later in the fall with the proceeds going to PEN.

Free speech is key for anyone working in publishing. In Sweden, it’s easy to take free speech for granted, but around the world people face long prison sentences, some even condemned to death, for using their pens or expressing their opinions. Often, people are held and charged under false pretences, sometimes without any official charges at all.

During this year’s Gothenburg Book Fair, Bonnierförlagen will start each day of the fair with a speaker who will discuss one of the four censored people who’ve been chosen: Albert Bonnier, head of non-fiction at Bonnierförlagen will discuss Salman Rushdie; Elnaz Baghlanian, editorial director at Atlas will discuss Narges Mohammadi; Ola Larsmo, chair of Swedish PEN will discuss Uma Singh; and Jennifer Clement, chair of PEN International will discuss Ashraf Fayad.

The talks will be published on Bonnierfrölagen’s new Selma Stories Facebook page each day at 9 a.m. (Note: Selma Stories, a new platform for booklovers in Sweden, gets its name from early 20th century author and Nobel-prizewinner Selma Lagerlöf.)

“During my years working at Swedish PEN, we could see how threats to authors around the world increased markedly, and regularly under new guises,” says Baghlanian. “Every opportunity to bring attention to and inform about this is important, that’s why I’m participating in this initiative. We need to constantly remind ourselves of the fundamental role that free speech plays in society. Every author who is threatened, persecuted or imprisoned and every book that is censored or forbidden is a great loss to society.”

During the book fair, authors and other creators will be invited to Bonnierförlagen’s stand to create their own interpretations of what freedom of speech means. They’ll get a pen and paper to start with, but from there it’s up to them whether they choose an illustration, a word, a poem or a longer text.

The results will later be auctioned on the Day of the Imprisoned Writer, Nov. 15. All proceeds will go to Swedish PEN and its committee for imprisoned writers worldwide.