Natalia Smirnova, the founder of the Russian-language bookstore Babel in Berlin, has been connected to literature since she started working in publishing in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n
After leaving Russia in 2015, she did not expect to return to the literary world. But after the invasion of Ukraine, inspired by a friend who opened a bookstore for Russian speakers in Tel Aviv, Smirnova took a risk and launched her own project, aiming to unite people in the German capital.<\/p>\n
Babel\u2019s books will be sold at Artists Against the Kremlin<\/a>, an upcoming exhibition co-organized by The Moscow Times in Amsterdam.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Moscow Times asked Smirnova about how Babel has become a social space, the impact of growing censorship in Russia on its operations and what it means to curate a bookstore in exile.<\/p>\n The Moscow Times: How did you come up with the idea to open a Russian-language bookstore?<\/p>\n Natalia Smirnova: I\u2019ve always worked with books \u2014 in the 2000s I worked in publishing and I later ran a literary agency. There wasn\u2019t really a specific idea [for the bookstore] at first. It felt like Russian-speaking people in Berlin needed a space and a kind of mediator \u2014 and a book is just that, it\u2019s a universal means of communication. Books create a space that draws people in. We didn\u2019t have a clear goal, but we did want to open our doors and offer a meeting point \u2014 a place where people could come together. Including those who arrived after 2022 and those who moved to Europe earlier.<\/p>\n MT: Did you expect the bookstore to become so popular after it opened?<\/p>\n NS: Honestly, no \u2014 not at all. We were planning to see how things would go during the first six months and decide whether to continue. We didn\u2019t even have a business plan. We had nothing to compare it to \u2014 there was no bookstore like it in Berlin and no one really knew how many Russian-speaking people lived in the city who would actually want to buy physical books. But things started happening simultaneously \u2014 for instance, [the exiled media outlet] Meduza launched its own publishing house around that time. That\u2019s important because it gives publishers hope \u2014 and a way to sell their books. Independent bookstores like ours also play a role by creating spaces where people support each other.<\/p>\n MT: How do you brand yourselves?<\/p>\n NS: Our audience, of course, isn\u2019t limited to those who came [to Berlin] after February 2022, although they do make up the majority. But we don\u2019t present ourselves as a bookstore built solely around political statements. That said, we and our audience do share a common position \u2014 so yes, we did open as an opposition-minded bookstore. Our original selection consisted of books from Russia and most of our books still come from there. We\u2019re not a store that sells only tamizdat<\/a>, though of course those books are in higher demand and draw more attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, you can\u2019t build an entire bookstore \u2014 even a small one \u2014 from tamizdat alone, because there simply aren\u2019t that many titles yet. We don\u2019t choose our stock based on what will sell best. The main principle of our selection is quality books for a discerning readership \u2014 people who go to bookstores regularly and buy books. We carry contemporary literary fiction \u2014 both originally written in Russian and in translation \u2014 as well as non-fiction, particularly in the humanities: philosophy, anthropology, literary theory. We carry titles from small presses too, many of which are hard to find elsewhere. Art and art criticism are also part of our offering. But you won\u2019t find books here by authors who have taken part in Z-propaganda or supported the war [against Ukraine] in any way.<\/p>\n MT: How did the bookstore become a space for events and lectures?<\/p>\n NS: That was part of the idea from the start. At first, we organized more lectures and speaker talks. But we can fit a maximum of 40 people in our space, so it\u2019s too small for speakers with large audiences. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve focused more on book presentations for now. Of course, we don\u2019t limit ourselves to politically focused events or only invite people who can\u2019t speak publicly in Russia, although we\u2019re always happy to host \u2018foreign agent\u2019 authors or others who can\u2019t present their work at home. Still, we don\u2019t see ourselves as purely a political or opposition organization. We\u2019re a bookstore, but we\u2019re a bookstore with a clear position.<\/p>\n MT: Do the ongoing bans on certain books and topics in Russia \u2014 like LGBT themes \u2014 and the raids on publishers affect your selection? If something is banned, does it become more interesting for your audience?<\/p>\n NS: Yes and no. Yes, because when the first banned books came out, like \u2018Summer in a Pioneer Tie\u2019 (\u2018Leto v pionerskom galstuke,\u2019 a summer romance between two teenage boys), people came in asking for those titles because they\u2019d made headlines. But people were asking about them even before that. And they sold out fast. We\u2019re allowed to sell them, but we just can\u2019t get new copies.<\/p>\n And \u2014\u00a0no, because, for example, when [Vladimir] Sorokin\u2019s novel \u2018The Heirs\u2019 (\u2018Nasledie\u2019) was banned it didn\u2019t affect sales at all. When the book was first released, it sold well because it was Sorokin. Whether the book was banned or not didn\u2019t seem to matter. I think many people have stopped paying attention to what\u2019s officially banned in Russia.<\/p>\n MT: How exactly do the bans affect your ability to get the books?<\/p>\n NS: There are a few stages in this process. When a book is officially banned for sale \u2014 especially anything related to LGBT topics, drugs or terrorism \u2014 it\u2019s pulled from the shelves. Publishers are ordered to withdraw them. At that point, we can no longer get them. Another thing that\u2019s happening is that even without official bans, publishers are becoming cautious. Some titles are voluntarily withdrawn by publishers or bookstores and they just disappear from the market. Or the print run sells out and the book isn\u2019t reprinted, even if demand is high.\u00a0<\/p>\n So it\u2019s a process coming from different directions. On the one hand, we\u2019re outside of Russia and can sell these books and Russian authorities don\u2019t control us, but if the book no longer exists in Russia, we simply can\u2019t order it. But we believe that books that were and are still being published in Russia remain important for reflection and discussion.<\/p>\n Babel’s books will be sold at the second edition of Artists Against the Kremlin, an art exhibition organized by The Moscow Times and All Rights Reversed gallery at De Balie in Amsterdam from Aug. 15-Sept. 4.<\/p>\n