The health of a society can often be measured by the freedom of its books. Every society that has tried to control its people has started by controlling its books. And every society that has expanded freedom has done the opposite—it has expanded access to books. Because books are not simply objects. They are one of humanity’s most powerful technologies, machines for communication. Books allow ideas to travel across time. They allow imagination to cross borders. They allow us to step into lives not our own. Books are how societies remember… argue… dissent… and imagine. And that is why publishing matters. But it is also why this moment matters. Because publishing—like many cultural industries—is navigating a period of profound change. But if book fairs are the engine room of publishing, festivals are its public square. Across the sector, costs have risen sharply: paper, printing, distribution. Many publishers and independent bookshops operate on extremely tight margins.…