Publishing house “Lohvinau” not allowed to Minsk book fair

Minsk International Book Fair will be held 11 to 15 February in the pavilion "BelExpo". However, the publishing house which is most spoken about in Belarus today, will not be represented there.

This information was confirmed to “Nasha Niva” by the founder of the Literary House, Ihar Lohvinau.

As said by him, the publishing hosue was not even allowed to fill out an application for taking part in the fair.

“The fair is organized by the joint-stock company "Makbel". We appealed to its head and he answered he wouldn't give us any space, as there is an order of the Ministry of Information that we must not be allowed to take part in the fair,” said Mr. Lohvinau.

February 10, the Supreme Court upheld the verdict for fining Lohvinau 5.4 mln roubles and the confiscation of its income for the previous year inn the amount of 961 million roubles. The publishing house had to work without a license for the sale of books (!) as it received repeated license denials from the Ministry of Information (all in all, they were given six denials for various reasons).

Despite it, the publishing house didn't loose the legal right to take part in book fairs. The bookstore continues working, it was re-registered to a new legal body and received a license from the Ministry of Information.

Soon “Lohvinau” will take part in two foreign book fairs – in Vilnius on February 19 and in Leipzig on March 14.

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Funds are being raised to help Lohvinau pay more than $63,000 to the state. More than $17,200 has been collected at the time of the publication.You can donate money in dollars and euros via internet banking or PayPal, or in Belarusian rubles – to the seller at the store (Minsk, Independence Ave., 37a).