The Cellophane World. "Novaya-Europe" Studied Ten Thousand Bestsellers in Russia Since 2021. We Tell What Remains on Russian Shelves After War, Censorship, and Sanctions

Russia's book market has significantly changed during the war years: banned writers and hundreds of publications on "extremist" topics have disappeared from shelves, demand for domestic fiction has grown, and the cost of books has skyrocketed. We studied over ten thousand bestsellers from major chains and publishers to understand what is happening in the book market, how bans and economic difficulties affect stores, and what publishers fear. Over the past four years, the book market has undergone serious changes: strict censorship, the first criminal case for publishing activities, the withdrawal of foreign rights holders, and increased book production costs. All of this has hit publishers hard economically and inevitably influenced what books are now published and read. Illustration: Lyalya Bulanova / "Novaya Gazeta Europe". Forbidden Topics In April, law enforcement officers detained the CEO of Russia's largest publishing house, "Eksmo," Evgeny Kapiev, and several other top managers. They were later released without charges but under an obligation to appear. According to TASS, employees of Popcorn Books, part of the "Eksmo-AST" holding, provided testimony against the "Eksmo" executives. The persecution of book publishers began a year earlier, in May 2025, with searches of employees at Popcorn Books and "Eksmo." It was Popcorn Books that, back in 2021, released one of the most discussed domestic novels of recent years, "Summer in a Pioneer Tie," and in 2022, its sequel "What the Swallow is Silent About." About ten people were detained by security forces on suspicion of "LGBT extremism." Three of them are on the registry of extremists and terrorists and were under house arrest for almost a year until a plea deal was publicly announced in May 2026. In January 2026, Popcorn Books announced its closure. The "Case of the Book Publishers" – under which this persecution will go down in the history of Russian literature – was sent to court on June 11. Two weeks later, the former director of the publishing house received a 4-year suspended sentence. Even before the arrests, Russian bookstores began receiving lists of books that publishers were asked to remove from circulation. First and foremost, censorship affected literature mentioning LGBT relationships or non-heterosexual orientation of a character, even a minor one. As a result, almost all popular books disappeared from bestseller rankings: in 2022, 11 works were in the top sales, now there are three. And those are in the 500-1000th positions. "My experience with publishers shows that they are very neuroticized, very depressed, very disoriented," says literary critic Galina Yuzefovich in an interview with the "Veter" project. "Popcorn was like a lamb to the slaughter. They chose it to be crushed to ashes for everyone else as a deterrent. Yes, it works, even though everyone understands that this is not what will happen to everyone now. In any difficult life situation, the publisher immediately jumps up and laments: 'Do you want us to be like in "The Individual"?' This has become an almost industry-internal catchphrase for any remark," she adds. Incomplete List of Prohibitions in Publishing Propaganda of LGBT and participation in the international extremist LGBT movement Propaganda of non-traditional values Propaganda of childfree Propaganda of Satanism and participation in the international extremist movement of Satanists Propaganda of drugs, even in a negative context. Books on such topics must be marked 18+ Educational literature by "foreign agents" Participation in the activities of undesirable organizations, including the demonstration of their symbols (such as WWF, for which the Khabarovsk Children's Library was reprimanded) Denial of the genocide of the Soviet people Public demonstration of Nazi attributes or symbols (including in books about World War II and criticizing the Third Reich) Latin-based terms on covers (e.g., books about digital, AI, TikTok, etc.) Presence of a book in the registry of extremist materials Before 2022, this list only included the demonstration of Nazi attributes, presence in the registry of extremist materials (not the same as participation in an extremist movement), and participation in the activities of undesirable organizations. There were significantly fewer undesirable organizations, and no precedents regarding books under this article. Propaganda of LGBT was prohibited for audiences under 18. Photo: "Novaya Gazeta Europe." "Foreign Agent" Prose In June 2026, the Ministry of Digital Development and publishers warned of the risk of removing up to 15% of library collections, RBC reports, citing a ministry document. In some municipal libraries, removals could affect up to 70% of books. The reason is censorship laws, primarily against undesirable organizations and "foreign agents." The first writer to become a "foreign agent" was Viktor Shenderovich, on the eve of the war, in December 2021. Since the invasion, this practice has become widespread. In the first year, the registry of "foreign agents" included Dmitry Glukhovsky, Mikhail Zygar, Dmitry Bykov, Tamara Eidelman, Yulia Latynina, and others, as well as Bookmate – a company associated with Popcorn Books, its director Andrey Baev, and Alexey Dochayev, then head of Popcorn Books. In 2024, the Ministry of Justice declared Boris Akunin a "foreign agent," and six months later, the writer was sentenced to 14 years in prison on terrorism charges. Among the 29 "foreign agents" whose books have appeared in bestseller rankings at least once, the most popular are Boris Akunin, Dmitry Glukhovsky, and Mikhail Zygar. They were in the top lists alongside classics of Russian literature and stayed there for years. After 2022, their sales sharply declined. Censorship is working: books by "foreign agent" authors have almost disappeared from bestseller rankings. Their books have also begun to be removed from libraries. In September 2025, the Russian Book Union published rules for selling books by such authors: they cannot be displayed face out, covers must be marked 18+, or the entire book must be wrapped in opaque paper. Violation of these rules can result in a fine of up to 500,000 rubles. At the same time, a ban on educational activities came into force, affecting not only teaching but also non-fiction books. In recent years, authors studying political, social, anthropological, and historical topics have increasingly appeared on the lists of "foreign agent" writers: Nikita Smagin ("Everyone Iran"), Ksenia Luchenko ("By All Means"), Ivan Kurilla ("Americans and Everyone Else"). If a "foreign agent's" book does not fall under the ban on educational activities, its publication is perfectly legal. However, strict sales rules negate the author's prospects of working with a publisher. Many prefer to publish abroad (tamizdat), as do Boris Akunin, who has his own publishing project, Nikita Smagin, Dmitry Bykov, and many other authors. Books published before the author was declared a "foreign agent" may remain on sale for some time due to inertia. Therefore, even after acquiring the status, some authors still make it into the top lists of book chains. From Pacifism to Escapism In the first year of the invasion, the popularity of classic anti-war books surged, such as works by Remarque and "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" by Boris Vasilyev, as well as literature about the Third Reich ("In the Garden of Monsters," "Mobilized Nation," "Notes of the Third Reich") and Soviet repressions (the best-selling of which was Evgenia Ginzburg's memoir of camp life – "Journey into the Whirlwind. Chronicle of the Personality Cult Era"). Acquiring anti-war literature became a way to express dissent. Russians began buying collections of Leo Tolstoy's pacifist articles with the telling title "I Cannot Be Silent," as well as "The History of a German," where author Sebastian Haffner discusses, among other things, the fate of a "good German" under a dictatorship, or books with a falling rocket depicted in silhouette. "In 2022, people wanted to understand how we got here. There was a great demand for sharply social publicism and books about the Third Reich. Now, in my opinion, we are seeing, on the contrary, a sharp retreat towards something comforting and escapist," believes Galina Yuzefovich. Fiction has become a "consolation." According to the All-Russian Book Ranking for the first half of 2025, 52% of books in the top 50 were fiction – an 8% increase compared to the previous year. Since 2021, the share of fiction has noticeably grown in most of the books we analyzed. The popularity of non-fiction, meanwhile, has significantly declined. Currently, top sellers include "The Sorrows of Satan" by 19th-century English writer Marie Corelli and "If Cats Disappeared from the World" by contemporary Japanese author Genki Kawamura. The philosophical story about accepting death has found its moment, although it was published before the war. Fiction is also growing due to romance novels. Back in 2024, "Chitai-gorod" reported on this trend – sales of sentimental literature increased by a record 39% across all genres. In 2026, the main works in this theme included the classics "Night in Lisbon," "Wuthering Heights," "Pride and Prejudice," "The Postman" by young Italian writer Francesca Giannone, the contemporary 18+ novel "Kiss with a Shadow" by Navessa Allen, the romantic fantasy "Irresistible Desire to Fall in Love with Your Enemy" by Bridgette Knightley, and the collection of contemporary young adult literature "Love in Arden City" by Sophie Henri. Domestic Production In 2021-2022, alongside Victor Pelevin, Vladimir Nabokov, and Leo Tolstoy, Boris Akunin, Dmitry Glukhovsky, and Mikhail Zygar were among the top-selling authors. Now they are effectively banned, but in recent years, new stars of contemporary Russian fiction have appeared on bookstore shelves: Viktor Dashkevich (a series of books about a sorcerer in an alternative Russian Empire), Nastasya Renjina ("Grandma Said to Sit Quietly"), Svetlana Tyulbasheva ("The Forest"). Since 2019, bookstores have significantly increased sales of domestic fiction – the average share of contemporary Russian works has grown from 10% to 15%. As the CEO of Alpina publishing house told Forbes in 2022, those who left the Russian market accounted for about 70% of books. "Import substitution" of authors was brewing in the book industry, as there was already demand for domestic literature in the years immediately preceding the war, Galina Yuzefovich explained to "Veter." If previously authors, for example, of young adult literature, had to use foreign pseudonyms (Anna Jane, Antonina Kreyn, Una Hart), then during the COVID times, the trend changed: Slavic fantasy, books about ourselves, based on Russian events or in a setting familiar to the reader, became popular. But publishers were conservative: it was safer to take a popular foreign author, knowing they were liked by readers in other countries, although this did not always guarantee their success in Russia. "If it weren't for the wave of sanctions, we would never have had [in the top sales] Dashkevich, Tyulbasheva, or 'Grandma' ['Grandma Said to Sit Quietly' by Nastasya Renjina]," Yuzefovich sadly notes. "In short, it would have been better, of course, if Russian authors were found, supported, and promoted not due to external pressure and not as a result of restrictions. But I would say that this is one of the very few positive trends in the Russian book market," concludes the critic. Demand is growing not only for literature by Russian authors but also for literature about Russia in general. According to major publishing houses and bookstores, interest in history and military affairs sharply increased among Russians immediately after the invasion. This is also indicated by the results of a survey by the book service "Stroki." Its larger competitor, Litres, also records a peak in the popularity of books about Russian traditions (including "Orthodox Cuisine") and literature about Moscow. According to our data, books about the history and traditions of Russia first entered the top popular genres in 2021 and have remained there ever since. Currently, one of the best-selling works on this topic is "Slavic Myths" by Alexandra Barkova. Other popular genres include fantasy and other fiction, psychology, and motivational literature. Z-Literature There are already so many books about the "SMO" that they have formed a whole direction in modern Russian literature. The state actively supports new trench literature: the "Glavkniga" award has repeatedly recognized works about the war. Based on the results of 2025, Evgeny Zhuravli won with "Contact Line," and last year – Daniil Tulyenkov with the novel "Storm Z. You Have No Other Us." This work brought Tulyenkov's book into the bestseller lists in 2024, where it remains to this day. However, new lieutenant prose, unlike the works of World War II veterans, has not yet become a truly popular genre. However, one should not equate books about war with pro-war books. Yuzefovich characterizes Tulyenkov's text as "absolutely anti-war in its mood": "It is an anti-war position of a person who fought, who saw all this up close and hated it in a way no liberal can hate." Of course, this does not mean that "Storm Z" is read by those who opposed the war in February 2022. Reading a particular book is not a form of joining the author's position. Yuzefovich explains the interest in Tulyenkov as follows: "There is a crude, terrible trench truth there, not adorned with any patriotic frills – that's what interests the reader, because it's a way to literally put a finger into fresh, open wounds. And it sold well: a print run of 30 thousand copies of absolute honesty." The registry of anti-Ukrainian works, regularly updated by the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine, contained 650 books as of February 2026. Only six of them have appeared in sales charts at least once: "Coordinate Z" by Zakhar Prilepin; "War Against Russia. The Final Solution of the 'Russian Question'" by Yakov Kedmi; "Storm Z. You Have No Other Us" by Daniil Tulyenkov; "Ukraine from Rus to Anti-Russia" by Sergey Plaksiy; "Eight Years with Wagner" by Kirill Romanovsky; "Tank 'Black Separ'" by Georgy Savitsky. Among books not included in the Ukrainian registry, bestsellers included "The Phenomenon of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932–1933" by Ivan Chigirin (in the "Labirint" ranking), "The Storming of Bakhmut. Call Sign 'Constable'" by Alexander Savitsky (Litres), "PMC 'Wagner'. Chronicle: Donbas. Syria" by Nikolai Andreev ("AST" and Book24), and "In the Beginning Was the Word – in the End Will Be the Number" by Margarita Simonyan ("Bukvoed"). Economics Is More Dangerous Than Censorship In the first quarter of 2026, book circulation fell by 26% compared to the same period in 2025. This is a record low for at least six years – worse than during the coronavirus, which book industry professionals recall with horror: in 2021, 19% fewer books were published in Russia amid the pandemic. Another drop occurred in the first quarter of 2023 – by 23%. These figures shocked the industry, which had already grown accustomed to shrinking print runs and feared acquiring new authors: what if the investments don't pay off. Book prices have also changed. Since the COVID era, the median price of bestsellers has doubled, with price increases accelerating after 2022. Currently, a paperback book from the bestseller list will cost, on average, a little over a thousand rubles in chain stores and independent bookstores. The main reason is the rising cost of book production. Immediately after the sanctions were imposed, it became clear that the domestic market had a catastrophic shortage of raw materials: there was not enough paper of various types, inks, or even threads for binding book sections. Over time, inflation and reduced print runs began to take their toll: the smaller the print run, the higher the cost of an individual book, and publishers cannot risk large print runs for new authors. Vladimir Kharitonov, technical director of Freedom Letters publishing house (tamizdat, printed in Latvia and other countries), clarifies: "Book prices have been rising for a long time (mainly due to reduced print runs) and accelerated further during COVID." He also notes that not all raw materials could be "import substituted": "It was not possible to fully restore the assortment because domestic paper could not replace good European paper (primarily from Finland). However, they learned to make their own office paper, which is now mostly used for printing." Specific markets have been affected, he says: "It also didn't work out well with thick paper for high-quality color printing (children's literature) – it's all imported, including through third countries. Equipment is very difficult to obtain: new equipment is only Chinese (and it's not always reliable), while old equipment breaks down, and replacement parts take a long time to arrive – they are brought through third countries. Some publishers still manage to order printing and transport runs from Europe, including from Latvia. This, of course, does not have a positive effect on prices. And they will continue to rise." Various publishers predict a further 10-20% increase in book prices in 2026 for the end consumer, but the median increase will likely be around 15%: no sharp spikes are expected, according to the expert. "Unless, of course, something suddenly happens to the economy as a whole," adds Kharitonov. Due to the high cost of books in retail stores, readers are forced to switch to marketplaces, where books are significantly cheaper. In 2025, according to "Eksmo-AST," the share of marketplaces among printed book sales channels reached 57.8%. The popularity of the digital format also continues to grow: by the end of 2025, according to the CEO of "Eksmo" at a press conference, sales of e-books increased by 45%. An increase in the share of marketplaces, paradoxically, discourages readers from buying physical books in the long run. Retail stores are places of attraction that promote not only books but the habit of reading itself, including in small towns. Consumers, especially buyers of children's books, want to see books "live," to appreciate the print quality. Furthermore, state control over the assortment in hundreds of different stores is more difficult to implement than in a large online network and on a marketplace. In her channel, Evgenia Rykalova, publisher and owner of the bookstore "Iskateli" in Smolensk, described measures that could help independent bookstores, such as releasing new products on marketplaces six months after their bookstore release, but such measures are not supported by publishers. On the contrary, marketplaces, which buy books in large volumes, are more profitable for publishers in the short term. As a result, their terms are much better, including purchase prices. It is cheaper for a retail store to buy a book on the same marketplace and then resell it in its own store than to accept the publisher's terms. In such a situation, the competition is lost in advance. Censorship Is Expensive People are reading less actively worldwide. This is a general trend that is sometimes curbed by specific phenomena like BookTok – the popularity of physical books on TikTok. However, the current state policy of the Russian Federation mercilessly complicates life for book publishers. Books are becoming more expensive, they are covered with huge disclaimers about drugs or "foreign agent" status, pages have to be painted over with black ink or plot lines changed to satisfy censorship – all this has a depressing effect on the book industry. This entire complex of restrictive, censorship, and economic measures imposes financial costs on publishing houses and bookstores. According to descriptions from experts and editors, in February-March 2026, work on new releases in publishing houses and sales in stores came to a standstill because the entire industry was searching for banned content in already released books, then pasting disclaimers on them, making corrections to layouts of additional print runs, recalling books from sale, and so on. "The publisher paid money to have its cover disfigured, paid for cellophane and 18+ labeling, and this also reduced sales. Because 18+ and shrink-wrapping objectively reduce sales. Books become more expensive, they become less convenient. For the reader, they require some additional costs, they carry risks for the publisher," says Yuzefovich to "Veter." Publishers are over-cautious and apply 18+ labels and "drug stickers" in all dubious cases. Such labeling automatically leads to the cancellation of the preferential VAT rate of 10%, provided for book products without such age restrictions. Editors have to include VAT of 22% in the book's price. Evgenia Rykalova noted in September: "The main thing that distinguishes a bookstore in Russia is cellophane. I haven't seen so many books wrapped in cellophane anywhere else." And this was even before the drug amendments came into force. "A beautiful and very tactile industry is being encased in cellophane," she wrote. In such a situation, reader support for independent bookstores becomes particularly important. And it is readers who cover the fines for retail stores for LGBT propaganda in books that were not banned yesterday. And it is readers who help cover debts when businesses ultimately go bankrupt: out of respect for the bookseller who lost the battle against censorship, economic crisis, and marketplaces in dark times. Data visualization: Ksenia Storozheva