Editor-in-Chief Andrew Richard Albanese stands in this week for publishing analyst Carlo Carrenho with a review of the headlines from across the international publishing world.

By Andrew Richard Albanese, Editor-in-Chief

It’s summer, and Carlo Carrenho is enjoying some well deserved time off with family, so I’m stepping in again this week with an abbreviated version of the Around the Book World column. Please don’t fear: Carlo will be back for the August 24th edition.

In the meantime, among the headlines this week: a third Russian publisher has been sentenced for “LGBTQ+ extremism”; Brazil’s focus on internationalization appears to be paying off; HarperCollins reports a strong fourth quarter and a solid fiscal year, and is looking to AI to help deliver stronger results going forward; and Türkiye’s libraries are said to be experiencing massive growth.

The Moscow Times reports that Dmitry Protopopov, former head of now defunct Russian indie publisher Popcorn Books, has received a four-year suspended sentence after being convicted on charges of LGBTQ+ “extremism.” The report notes that Protopopov was one of three people arrested in May 2025 in the wake of a 2023 Russian Supreme Court ruling that outlawed the so-called “international LGBT movement,” making it a crime to publish, sell, or distribute literature with LGBTQ+ themes in Russia.

“Prosecutors accused Protopopov and his colleagues of devising a scheme that would allow them to sell books with LGBTQ+ themes to ‘loyal customers’ in an effort to avoid writing off 10 million rubles ($121,700) in losses,” the report states. In addition to his suspended prison sentence, the court reportedly ordered Protopopov to serve five years on probation; banned him from working in the publishing or digital media sectors; and seized all of the money he earned while employed by Eksmo, Russia’s largest publishing group, which acquired Popcorn Books in 2023.

The news comes after two others charged by prosecutors received nearly identical sentences after striking plea deals earlier this summer, which, according to a chilling report in Mediazona, included testifying against Eksmo executives, including CEO Evgeny Kapyev. As this column previously shared, Kapyev was briefly detained and released in April.

Chytomo reports that an August 5 Russian attack destroyed another 100,000 books belonging to the Ukrainian publishing house BookChef, said to be the remainder of the publisher’s remaining stock. In July, a previous Russian attack on Kyiv destroyed approximately 800,000 BookChef books.  “This was all of our remaining warehouse stock and new releases that had only recently arrived from printing houses and were soon supposed to be in your hands,” the publisher said, in a statement on its social media.

The latest attack comes amid what appears to be a deliberate, sustained assault on Ukraine’s publishing infrastructure. “Over the past four years, an average of around 25 million book copies were published annually in Ukraine. Russian attacks destroyed more than 1.5 million Ukrainian book copies in July (2026) alone. This means that this summer alone, Ukraine has lost more than one-third of its annual book output,” Chytomo reports.

Basnews reports that  Prague will host the Kurdish and Arab Book Fair, set for August 15–16. “Bringing together publishers, writers, translators, and readers for two days of literary discussions, book launches, and cultural events aimed at strengthening cultural exchange between the Kurdish, Arab, and European communities,” the event is being organized is in cooperation with the Czech PEN Club, and will be dedicated to the late Kurdish writer Mohammad Sayyid Hussein, who died in 2022, recognizing his “lasting contribution” to Kurdish literature and culture.

“This fair is a celebration of the written word and its ability to bring cultures and peoples closer together,” said Jiří Dědeček, President of the Czech PEN Club, who described the fair as a celebration of literature’s ability to connect people across cultures. Haitham Hussein, Director of London-based Ramina Books, which will be at the fair, agrees, saying that said the fair represents a valuable opportunity to “develop new partnerships in publishing, translation, and distribution.” Organizers said they hope to establish the Arab and Kurdish Book Fair as “a permanent fixture on Prague’s cultural calendar.”

PublishNews reports that data from a Brazilian Publishers initiative to better “internationalize” Brazilian publishing showed a significant jump in international business at the world’s leading literary fairs in the first half of 2026. The report notes that translation grants “played an important role” in dealmaking, “serving as a decisive incentive for foreign publishers to include Brazilian works in their catalogs.” Furthermore, “on-site participation at trade shows makes all the difference,” the report notes.

Brazilian Book Chamber president Sevani Matos told the outlet that the growth “proves that the global market not only wants to consume physical books printed in Brazil, but actively desires to translate and incorporate our voices and stories into their own languages ​​and catalogs.” The Brazilian international agenda will continue in 2026 at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October, the report notes, where Brazil will have its own stand and meetings “focused on rights sales and networking,” as well as participation in the Sharjah Publishers Conference in the United Arab Emirates, and the Guadalajara International Book Fair in Mexico.

In the U.S., Jim Milliot at Publishers Weekly reports that HarperCollins turned in a solid fiscal year paced by a strong fourth quarter, in which revenue rose 15%. According to a release, total sales at HarperCollins increased 6% in the fiscal year ended June 30, to $2.29 billion. Profits, however, fell 3%, to $287 million. Harper reps said the dip in profits was due to a “$13 million write-off” from the closure of library supplier Baker & Taylor, which collapsed in fall 2025, as well as “a $16 million write-off related to inventory of HarperCollins’s international operations.” Digital sales rose 4% for the full year, led by a 16% gain in audiobook sales.

Notably, on an earnings call, HarperCollins leaders cited the potential of AI to boost audio earnings. “When you think about it, AI can really transform audiobooks as there will be so much more choice in the voices, the sound effects, and other techniques and tools that will bring words to life,” Robert Thomson, CEO of HarperCollins parent Company News Corp, told analysts. HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray added that the company is also focused on “using AI to help translate books overseas.” Meanwhile, Thomson confirmed that HarperCollins will benefit from the $1.5 billion settlement with Anthropic (although he did not share how much the company stood to take in), and said the publisher expects there will be more payouts in the future. “This will certainly not be the last litigation related to AI,” Thomson said. “And so, we expect compelling cash-rich legal sequels.”

As litigation escalates and controversy continues to swirl around literary works allegedly created with AI, an interesting article in U.S.-based Nieman Lab reports that among the 2026 Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists across 15 journalism categories (which were announced on May 4) “five winners and three finalists disclosed AI adoption in their submissions… the most since the disclosure requirement was added in 2024.”

“To state the obvious, perhaps, AI is here to stay,” Marjorie Miller, the administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes, told Nieman Lab. “The industry [used to be] far more apprehensive about AI tools than it is today, with a clearer understanding now of what uses might be appropriate—data collection and analysis, for example—and when it might not, such as in writing and editing stories in any format that might be considered for a Pulitzer Prize.” Miller cautioned that, as AI evolves, “reporters will need to ‘ensure and reassure’ the Pulitzers that submissions are ultimately produced by human beings, even when AI is used as an assistive tool.”

The article illustrates several ways AI is being used to assist the work of journalists. But given “recent controversies over AI-generated text allegedly appearing in prize-winning literary works,” the article adds, Miller said next year’s Pulitzers will include “an AI disclosure question in their book entry forms.”

The Hurriyet Daily reports that Türkiye’s libraries are seeing “record-high patron numbers, memberships, and physical expansion.” Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced the figures at the recent opening of the Şırnak Provincial Public Library, revealing that “the total library service area” in Türkiye has nearly tripled in eight years, increasing to nearly 900,000 square meters from 320,000 square meters. “He added that the number of members of public libraries rose from 2.8 million to 7.2 million during the same period, while the number of users increased from 28 million to 39.2 million,” the report adds.

Driving the expansion, Ersoy cited “comprehensive investments” by the government to “ensure that children and young people across Türkiye have easier access to library services,” noting that libraries are moving beyond places where people access books, transforming into “production and opportunity centers that contribute to Türkiye’s social, cultural, scientific and economic development.” He also pointed to the expansion of digital library services, pointing out that there are 78 “mobile libraries providing services to those who cannot access fixed library facilities.”

The U.K.-based anti-censorship organization Index on Censorship has announced that it will host a virtual “transatlantic dialogue” for U.K. and U.S. librarians in September, ahead of Banned Books Week U.K.

“Rather than looking back, this conversation asks a more urgent question: what will the next five years demand of us, and how can we prepare?” a release reads. The session is intended for librarians and will offer “a proactive roadmap” for defending the freedom to read. “While book censorship is often framed as a North American crisis, this session serves as both a strategic warning and a tactical guide for the U.K.”  The virtual event is set for September 14, and interested parties can register here.