Eksmo (russian: Эксмо) is one of the largest publishing houses in Russia. Eksmo and AST (which it later acquired in 2012) together publish approximately 30% of all Russian books. Established in 1991 as a small book-selling company, Eksmo gradually developed into a major player in the Russian market, discovering and developing detective-novel authors such as

Darya Dontsova Agrippina Arkadyevna Dontsova (russian: Агриппи́на Арка́дьевна Донцо́ва (Васи́льева), link=no; born 7 June 1952 in Moscow), primarily known as Darya Dontsova (russian: link=no, Дарья Донцова) (bef ...

and

Alexandra Marinina Alexandra Marinina russian: Алекса́ндра Мари́нина (born June 16, 1957, real name Marina Anatolyevna Alekseyeva russian: Мари́на Анато́льевна Алексе́ева) is a Russian writer of detective stories. ...

, as well as publishing works by

Tatyana Tolstaya Tatyana Nikitichna Tolstaya (russian: Татьяна Никитична Толстая; born May 3, 1951) is a Russian writer, TV host, publicist, novelist, and essayist from the Tolstoy family. Family Tolstaya was born in Leningrad into a f ...

Lyudmila Ulitskaya Lyudmila Evgenyevna Ulitskaya (russian: link=no, Людмила Евгеньевна Улицкая, born February 21, 1943) is an internationally acclaimed modern Russian novelist and short-story writer who, in 2014, was awarded the prestigious A ...

Tatiana Vedenska Tatiana Vedenska (russian: link=, Татьяна Евгеньевна Веденская; born 15 July 1976) is a widely known Russian writer and novelist. Biography Tatiana was born in Moscow into the family of an engineer. Her great grandfat ...

, and

Viktor Pelevin Victor Olegovich Pelevin ( rus, Виктор Олегович Пелевин, p=ˈvʲiktər ɐˈlʲɛɡəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈlʲevʲɪn; born 22 November 1962) is a Russian fiction writer. His novels include ''Omon Ra'' (1992), ''The Life of Insects ...

. Eksmo has become especially successful as a publisher of

Russian science fiction and fantasy Science fiction and fantasy have been part of mainstream Russian literature since the 18th century. Russian fantasy developed from the centuries-old traditions of Slavic mythology and folklore. Russian science fiction emerged in the mid-19th c ...

, with writers like

Sergey Lukyanenko Sergei Vasilyevich Lukyanenko (russian: Серге́й Васи́льевич Лукья́ненко, ; born 11 April 1968) is a Russian science fiction and fantasy author, writing in Russian. His works often feature intense action-packed plots, ...

, Yuri Nikitin, Vasily Golovachev,

Nick Perumov Nick Perumov (russian: link=no, Ник Перумов) is the pen name of Nikolay Daniilovich Perumov (russian: link=no, Николай Даниилович Перумов; born 21 November 1963), a Russian fantasy and science fiction writer. Bi ...

Vera Kamsha Vera Viktorovna Kamsha (russian: Вера Викторовна Камша; born November 5, 1962 in Lviv, Ukrainian SSR) is a Russian author of high fantasy and a journalist. Biography Kamsha graduated from Lviv Polytechnic, after which she mov ...

, Vadim Panov and

Tony Vilgotsky Anton "Tony" Vilgotsky (Russian: Антон Вильгоцкий) is a Russian musician, composer, horror and fantasy writer, playwright, and musical columnist. He is mostly known for his fantasy and horror novels (''Chosen by the Pentacle'', '' ...

. Other book series published by Eksmo include the Mona Lisa series of Russian-language translations of authors such as Mary Stewart.

Controversy

In 2011 Eksmo received criticism for publishing books which glorify

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

and his henchmen, such as "''Renaissance of Stalin''", "''

Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...

, the best manager of the 20th century''" (Берия — лучший менеджер XX века, 2008) by S. Kremlev, and "''Handbook of a Stalinist''" (Настольная книга сталиниста, 2010) by Yuri Zhukov. A group of writers and artists, including

Alexander Gelman Alexander Gelman (born December 21, 1960), born: Aleksandr Simonovich Gelman (russian: Алекса́ндр Си́монович Ге́льман) is an American theater director and the current Producing Artistic Director of Organic Theater Comp ...

signed an open letter questioning its editorial policy. Oleg Novikov, the director of the publishing house, responded that he felt obligated to cater to the taste of his readers, and not to censor them.

References

Book publishing companies of Russia Publishing companies established in 1991 Comic book publishing companies of Russia Russian speculative fiction publishers 1991 establishments in Russia Companies based in Moscow {{comics-company-stub

Controversy

See also

References