ILGCN Information Secretariat - Stockholm
(International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network) www.tupilak.ilgcn.se
Press Release October 25, 2006
'Labrys' Publication in Bishkek, 'Normal' Publishers in Stockholm
Sappho in Paradise Award to Kyrgyzstan, Sweden
London/Stockholm – This year's library and publishing award from the ILGCN (International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network and Paradise Press is shared by 'Labrys' -- a pioneering publication in the former Soviet republic of Krygyzstan and the Stockholm-based, lesbian-owned 'Normal' publishers -- giving special emphasis to rainbow novels, literature, documentaries, biographies and photography.
"The Labrys publication is honored with the "Sappho in Paradise 2006" for its courageous struggle to create rainbow visibility in a region where rainbow identities are fighting for existence and where rainbow rights are under threat in a hostile environment," according to the ILGCN motivation.
"The Stockholm award winners are women who have brilliantly and successfully challenged forces in the publishing world so often dominated by hetero, macho and commercial interests -- only rarely and reluctantly giving space to the high quality of rainbow writers and photographers of Swedish and foreign backgrounds."
Joining Estonian, British, Danish, Latvian, Zimbabwean Winners
The award diploma also includes the latest publication of the Paradise Press in London and is named after the ancient Greek poet. The 1st 'Sappho in Paradise' – announced at the ILGCN world conference on homo culture in Berlin in 2003-- went to the pioneering, lesbian & gay Mea Culpa Library in Tallinn – the 1st of its kind in Estonia. The 2004 award went jointly to the courageous and pioneering Gays the Word Bookshop in London and the Danish-Latvian-owned Atena Publishing House in Riga and the 2005 award went to the Library Project of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ).
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