Russian publisher Individuum shuts down following queer literature crackdown

Source: Individuum

Individuum is shutting down, its editor-in-chief, Alexey Kiselev, said on the publisher’s Telegram channel on September 28.

“The books we’ve been working on over the past few months will definitely come out. Other publishers will now release them. Keep an eye on the trade press for updates,” he wrote.

Kiselev gave no reason for the closure in his farewell message:

When we worked on books, we often talked with authors about how to shape the ending. Endings matter. They’re hard to get right, and you have a responsibility to get them right. A good ending is one that everything before it in the book has made inevitable. As everyone knows, reality comes up with the best endings, the ones that make the most dramatic sense, all on its own. And that was how Individuum’s story ended. As the great poet Alexander Vvedensky might have put it, the ending was sudden but not unexpected.

Individuum was founded in 2015. In 2023, Eksmo acquired Individuum and its division, Popcorn Books, which also specializes in nonfiction. Meduza reported on the acquisition in detail.

In 2025, employees of Popcorn Books and Individuum were accused of “extremism” over queer literature. Popcorn Books announced its closure soon afterward.

In 2026, three defendants in the “publishers’ case” — former Popcorn Books employee Artyom Vakhlyaev, former Popcorn Books sales director Pavel Ivanov, and Individuum executive director Dmitry Protopopov — each received a four-year suspended prison sentence.

At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.

If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.

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Russian publisher Individuum shuts down following queer literature crackdown

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Russian publisher Individuum shuts down following queer literature crackdown

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