Open letter to Sir Stephen Fry, Bianca Marais, Etgar Keret, Lily King, Anne Tayler, David Duchovny, Rhidian Brook, Amita Trasi, Adriana Trigiani, Michel Bussi, Richard Russo, Fannie Flagg, Eka Kurniawan, Khaled Hosseini and many other authors published in Russia by Phantom Press
Dear Author,
Dear Author,
We are a group of book bloggers from Russia. We are writing to bring your attention to a serious issue we had with the Phantom Press publishing house that translates and publishes your books in Russia, namely – to the beliefs said publisher holds about its readers.
Several days ago (June 15) the chief editor of Phantom Press, Igor Alukov, made a statement on his Facebook page. He wrote that he was frustrated with the way people take pictures of books holding them in their hands which makes the impression of their fingers having been amputated (sic). When asked about a better way to take photos, he advised to instead put a book on something – a toilet seat, for instance.
Bookstagrammers followed his advice and made a series of pictures with Phantom Press’ books in restrooms. Many users demanded to start boycotting the publisher. By that moment, the original Facebook post had been deleted.
The official answer from Phantom Press came in the form of a post that explained, in a rather sarcastic and patronizing way, that the problem is exaggerated, that the bookstagrammers’ reaction looks like intentional, premeditated bullying campaign and that Alukov’s post did not contain anything offensive. True readers, they stated, understand that statements made on personal pages have nothing to do with the official stance of the publishing house. Later on, this was supported by Alukov himself.
Unfortunately, nobody has actually apologized for Igor Alukov’s inappropriate words. Many of the users who disagreed and were upset with this state of affairs were blocked on the Phantom Press’ official Instagram page.
The conflict then resumed on Facebook, where the situation was openly discussed by Alla Shteynman (director of Phantom Press), Maxim Nemtsov (editor and translator) and others. They stated that “those people have nothing else to do but blame” and that they “would rather publish books for the aristocracy who surely need them more” (Alla Shteynman’s quote). Maxim Nemtsov was already infamous for his statements about readers whom he called “rising vomit masses” and “sick stupid mother*ckers”. Other expressions used by him are difficult to translate into English properly since Nemtshov is exceptionally proficient in Russian idiomatic expressions and profanities.
Phantom Press’ staff has been known to engage in conflicts before. For instance, in response to a reader’s request to address the offensive behavior of the person behind the company’s official Instagram page another representative stated: “this publishing house is 25 years old whereas you, dear reader, are only 24; we owe you nothing”.
We love your books, dear authors, and we want to read them and we want them to be accessible to people who do not speak English and other languages. But we also want to know if such behavior is appropriate for a modern publishing house.
Sincerely yours,
Russian book bloggers
