Book Arsenal 2023
This year, the 11th International Book Arsenal Festival will run from June 22 (official opening in the evening) to June 25.
Festival History
In 2011, the International Book Arsenal Festival was held for the first time. Olga Zhuk was the first curator of the Festival, and Yulia Lesechko was its first technical director. Since then, almost half a thousand well-known international authors from more than 35 countries have been guests of the Festival’s International Program. Every year about 200 Ukrainian publishers present their publications at the exhibition-fair. Among the invited curators of the Festival’s focus theme and special programs during the previous years were Oksana Zabuzhko, Serhiy Zhadan, Andrey Kurkov, Liubov Morozova, Alla Zahaikevych and others.
In 2019 The International Book Arsenal Festival won The Literary Festival Award of The London Book Fair International Excellence Awards 2019. The winners of The London Book Fair (LBF) International Excellence Awards 2019 were announced on 12th March 2019.
5
days of the festival35
countries during 9 years~ 200
publishers participating in the book fair each year15
special programs & thematic blocks> 520
guests from different countries during 9 years> 1000
new titles published specially for the festival450
events each year> 55 000
visitors20 000 м2
of exhibition areaThe International Book Arsenal Festival
an annual project of the Mystetskyi Arsenal – is an intellectual event in Ukraine, where the book, literary and artistic scenes develop and interact with each other, and important issues of human existence, as well as society and culture are raised, prompting the proactive position of the participants and visitors.
The mission of the Book Arsenal Festival
is to create such interactions between people, communities and institutions, when the combination of aesthetic experience and intellectual engagement in the context of the book enhances the ability of man and society.
The goals of the Book Arsenal Festival are as follows:
- To create a friendly space (offline and online) for the interaction between people, communities and institutions, and representation of the book in all its manifestations
- To stimulate the qualitative development and interaction of the book, literary, and artistic scenes
- To problematize and comprehend the important issues of man, society, and culture
- To integrate the Ukrainian book and literary community with the international one
2022
The festival was cancelled due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The dates of the Book Arsenal, traditionally in May, were marked by a public conversation "Our Great Migration" which reflected a new dimension of the focus theme of the festival, chosen in 2022. In addition to annual projects, in particular for professional audiences, the team continued its work to support the publishing industry, as well as the literary and art scene in Ukraine. The Book Arsenal focused special attention on informing the global book community about Russia's war in Ukraine, international cultural advocacy of Ukraine, and presenting Ukraine and the festival at various international book fairs and literary festivals. #workingforvictory, #ПрацюємоДляПеремоги and #НаближаємоКнижковий
back to 2022
2021
After a year of pause due the COVID-19 pandemic, the Anniversary 10th International Book Arsenal Festival returned to offline format with the hashtag #дочекаємоськнижкового and the focus theme OPTIMISTS SKEPTICS. The Book Arsenal Festival brought together over 200 publishers, illustrators and cultural institutions. More than 300 events and 16 exhibitions took place within the framework of the Festival, adhering to quarantine norms. This year, the guests from other cities and countries who were not able to come to Kyiv had an opportunity to watch most of the festival events online in a free broadcast on MEGOGO.
back to 2021
2020
Due to the emergency situation in Ukraine caused by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus resulting in COVID-19, most of the Festival was not held. However, for the first time the Ukrainian Literature: Rights On! professional program took place. The program facilitated 147 B2B meetings with 38 foreigners from 24 countries and Ukrainian publishers and literary agents. The Book Pitch project was launched in 2020 by the Odessa International Film Festival and the International Book Arsenal Festival.
back to 2020
2019
The Literary Festival Award of The London Book Fair International Excellence Awards. After winning the Best Book Design Contest, the book I See That by the Agrafka art studio won the Bronze Medal of the Stiftung Buchkunst annual book design competition "Best Book Design from all over the World", Leipzig/Frankfurt a.M., Germany.
back to 2019
2018
Creation of the first VR book in Ukraine Meeting Tukoni An enormous number of international guests – 106 authors and cultural activists from 31 countries of the world
back to 2018
2017
Birmingham Literature Festival is the guest festival
back to 2017
2016
The launch of the Best Book Design Contest For the first time, the exhibition stand of the Frankfurt Book Fair is at Book Arsenal
2015
The Independent Bookshops Congress. Program for indie publishers. The launch of the Illustrators Fair
2014
The Pastiche Project special philosophy program
2013
The White Ravens most beautiful children books exhibition
2012
New Music Festival in partnership with the UKHO music agency
2011
Start! Almost 100 participants, 30 guests from 10 countries
World stars among our guests:

Alessandro Baricco

Josef Winkler

Yurii Andrukhovych

Gérard de Cortanze

Serhiy Zhadan

Karl Schlögel

Jonathan Coe

Olga Tokarczuk

Joseph McElroy

Anne Applebaum

Serhii Plokhii

Meik Wiking

Michael Kimmel

Ivan Malkovych

Sofi Oksanen

Oksana Zabuzhko

Rune Belsvik

Sofia Andrukhovych
Фестиваль — майданчик реалізації унікальних проєктів

InkBox
(2019)

Veteran Tent
(2019)

rozdILovI. Poetry / Music / Visualization — signs of interaction
(2019)

IBBY / Silent Books
(2018)

Meeting Tukoni
(2018)

Metropolis. Part Utopias of the Future
(2018)

#obolonya
(2017)

One Kilometer of Perets
(2017)

An Endless Journey, or the Aeneid
(2017)
The Festival has its own award — the Best Book Design Contest
Since 2016, the Book Arsenal Festival, together with the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine, with the support of the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Buchkunst Foundation, has been holding a competition for the best book design among the Ukrainian publishers and cultural institutions. The contest aims to talk about the publication as an art object and to develop the publishing industry in the aesthetic direction.
The award ceremony takes place at the opening of the Book Arsenal Festival, the winning publications and the publishing house’s stand are specially marked at the Festival. Each year, the publications included in the shortlist of the contest are presented within the collection The Most Beautiful Books of the World at the Frankfurt and Leipzig Book Fairs.

© State Enterprise National Cultural, Artistic and Museum Complex "Art Arsenal"