Authors leave Hungarian publisher in protest at sale to Orbán-linked college

Libri Group's takeover by Mathias Corvinus Collegium raises fears of crackdown on literary freedoms

The takeover of Hungary's largest publishing house and bookstore chain by a private foundation with close ties to the country's prime minister, Viktor Orban, has prompted walkouts from authors who fear the sale heralds a further step in the country's crackdown on media freedoms.

The Libri Group, which includes the Libri publishing house, a chain of 57 bookstores by the same name and several smaller imprints for literary fiction, announced last week it had sold 98.5% of its business to the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), a private college that has received vast amounts of direct funding from the government since 2020.