 | Prix Voltaire Shortlist At the Festival du Livre de Paris, the International Publishers Association (IPA) has announced six publishers from Algeria, Belarus, Lebanon, Russia and the USA as the shortlist for the association's Freedom to Publish prize, the Prix Voltaire. Read more. | | | |  | SCCR 46 round-up The IPA once again participated in the five-day SCCR, which included a self-organized side event called "Who is Writing?: Rights and responsibilities". Read more. | | |  | | Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa to return to WEXFO WEXFO is bringing back Ressa, the CEO of Philippine news site Rappler and author of How to Stand Up to a Dictator. Read more. | | | | | IPA in Strasbourg for World Book Capital Cities Network meeting and Ecology of Books international conference In mid-April, the French city of Strasbourg hosted a meeting of the UNESCO World Book Capital Cities Network followed by a two-day conference on the Ecology of books and the closing ceremony for the Strasbourg UNESCO World Book Capital City programme. Read more. | | | Rio de Janeiro hosts spectacular World Book Capital Opening Ceremony On 22nd April 2025, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, hosted the opening ceremony for its year as the UNESCO World Book Capital City, succeeding Strasbourg, France. Read more. | | | IPA Vice President at 13th UNESCO IFAP Council On 23 and 24 April, IPA Vice President, Giovanni Hoepli, attended the 13th Session of the Information for All Programme (IFAP) Council at UNESCO's offices in Paris. Read more. | | | IPA at Abu Dhabi International Book Fair On 28 and 29 April 2025, IPA's President, Gvantsa Jobava, and Secretary General, José Borghino, participated in the Professional Programme at Abu Dhabi International Book Fair discussing the impact of digitisation on the creative industries. Read more. | | | World Book and Copyright Day marked around the world In addition to the dual celebrations in Strasbourg and Rio de Janeiro, APNET and FEP issued statements calling for the promotion of books and strengthening of copyright laws. Read more. | | | IPA mourns loss of past President Andrew H. Neilly In April, IPA learnt of the passing of past IPA President Andrew H. Neilly (1923-2025). Read more. | | | IPA holds virtual 60th Educational Publishers Forum Delegates from 26 countries participated in an intersting mix of discussions from institutional relations with UNESCO around the Dubai Declaration and OERs, to questions over learning outcomes, evolving attitudes to digital and physical educational resources and the impending European Accessibility Act. Read more. | | | Creators for Europe United Call on European Commission On World Intellectual Property Day (26 April) creators from across Europe, and beyond, adressed an open letter to European Commission Vice President Virkkunen about the evolution of artificial intelligence and the use of creative works as training data with permission or payment. Read more. | | | Call for Nominations: 2025 ABC International Excellence Award for Accessible Publishing The ABC International Excellence Award for Accessible Publishing has opened its nominations for 2025. This award honors both a publisher and a project initiative demonstrating exceptional leadership in enhancing the accessibility of e-books and digital publications. Read more. | | | 2025 Winners of the Bologna Prize for the Best Children's Publishers of the Year The BOP prize, organized by the Bologna Children's Book Fair in partnership with the IPA and the Italian AIE, is given to reward top children's publishers around the world. Publishers themselves present the prize to one publishing house for each of the six areas of the world for outstanding creativity, innovation, and high-quality editorial selections. Read more. | | | Metadata also a Victim of Russian Invasion of Ukraine Publications in parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia had been using ISSNs that had been originally founded by displaced Ukrainian higher education institutions or obtaining new ISSNs while falsely claiming to be legal successors of publications. Read more. | | | Literacy: the need of a good marketing for this amazing human technology Luis González Martín reflects on the impact of reading on human life and provides a recap of the Lecturalab24 event, hosted by the GSR Foundation. Read more. | | | Books and Copyright In light of the UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day, James Taylor explores the importance of books and copyright as a mechanism that encourages people's creativity. Read more. | | | SCCR46 Blog Day 1: The Gathering With this post, James Taylor starts off his daily blog series about the 46th session of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR). Read more. | | | SCCR46 Blog Day 2: The Sense of an Ending? Day two was primarily composed of informal discussions over the Broadcasting Treaty and the side event "Copyright and AI: It's not just about the cultural industries". Read more. | | | SCCR46 Blog Day 3: Staying On Day three started off with vivid engagment surrounding the topic of Limitations and Exceptions, accompanied by two side events by the news publishers and audivisual authors. Read more. | | | SCCR46 Blog Day 4: Something to Answer For On day four, IPA's side event "Who is writing? Rights and responsibilities in an AI-powered world" took place, whilst the plenary session turned its attention to artifical intelligence. Read more. | | | SCCR46 Blog Day 5: How Late it Was, How Late Final discussions and negotiations lasted until 3 am on the concluding day of the SCCR, resulting in the referral of most items to SCCR47 in December 2025. Read more. | | |
Publishing Perspectives reported on the new partnership between the IPA and the Malaysian Book Publishers for the 2026 International Publishers congress.
The United Nations featured President Gvantsa Jobava's participation in the "Turning the Page: Publishing's Role in Keeping the Focus on Sustainability" session at the 2025 London Book Fair. The same session was featured by Borders Literature Online in its review of the fair.
Publishers Weekly highlighted quotes regarding the gendered reading by Michiel Kolman, chair of the Inclusive Publishing and Literacy Committee of the IPA.
The IPA Prix Voltaire Short List announcement was posted on Publishing Perspectives, PublishNews, Giornale della Liberia, and Writing Africa.
IPA Past President, Pere Vicens, featured in a BBC World Service report on the origins of World Book and Copyright Day.
Another Past President, Richard Charkin, continues his column in Publishing Perspectives.
IPA's involvement at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair was picked up in Publishing Perspectives here and here. | | | | |
