A new “council of experts” set up in Russia is leveraging a decade-old law against gay “propaganda” to censure books. The move marks a new stage in the Kremlin’s control of information by targeting a broad array of literature, a cultural domain that has long enjoyed a special latitude in the country.
What do the novels, “A Home at the End of the World” by US writer Michael Cunningham, “Giovanni’s Room” by the late James Baldwin and “Heritage” by Russian writer Vladimir Sorokin have in common? These three works have not been sold in Russia since April 22 following a recommendation from a new institution that is emerging as a censorship body, according to Russian business daily Vedomosti.
