« Élever des citoyens d’un monde sans frontières ». L’évolution de l’édition jeunesse indépendante russe, 2003-2024

Abstract

This article focuses on a small group of Russian children’s publishing houses that emerged between 2003 and 2013, claiming a critical stance towards the commercial “mass production” of national majors. Their editorial portfolio, anchored in the global children’s literature market, aims to foster literature that conveys “humanist values” in order to popularise the idea of “citizen of a world without borders”. The article analyses the legitimising strategies used by the founders and foundresses of these publishing houses to assert their autonomy in relation to the big corporations and the state; the oscillations of this group between the pole of restricted publishing and that of commercial production; and the way in which they build and negotiate their presence both on the national territory and on the global market. Weakened and threatened with repression by the authoritarian hardening of the Russian political regime, the publishing houses in this study play on the subtle balance between confidentiality and notoriety, constantly creating and expanding communities of thought that include book professionals and readers.