The Ukrainian Book Institute, the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine, Mystetskyi Arsenal, and the Ukrainian Institute will represent Ukraine at the world’s most significant book event, the Frankfurt Book Fair from 18 to 22 October 2023, with a joint national stand as well as separate stands.

Ukraine will participate in the fair with the slogan: Fragility of existence. The focus of the discussions will be on the topic of Ecology and War. Ukrainian authors, translators, intellectuals, and public figures will take part in the international discussion programme and Ukrainian industry programme.

About Ukrainian national stand

The Ukrainian national stand in pavilion 4.1/B 82 is organised by the Ukrainian Book Institute. The stand will feature over 500 books from 43 publishers. It will also be the venue for negotiations on the sale of rights to Ukrainian books, and all slots for meetings have already been booked.

The Ukrainian stand was made possible thanks to the large-scale support from the German Ministry of Culture and Media, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, the Embassy of Germany in Ukraine, the Embassy of Ukraine in Germany and the Consulate General of Ukraine in Frankfurt. As part of the cooperation, an industry programme called Fragility of creators and curated by the Ukrainian Book Institute and the Goethe-Institut will take place. The stand will have its own stage with events in English and German during each day of the fair.

“Russia’s cruel war against Ukraine is not only ruining our environment and our homes, but also taking the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. With its missiles, Russia is aiming at our identity. But we are resilient and unbreakable. Ukrainian authors are fighting on the front, volunteering and writing new books; publishers keep publishing books; and readers keep buying and reading them. We are proud to present new books by Ukrainian authors in Frankfurt. These are the efforts of dozens of people that made it possible for us to present Ukrainian books at the stand of the Frankfurt Book Fair, and of thousands of people that made it possible for Ukrainian books to be translated and published in different countries. Meanwhile, these are the efforts of millions of people that will make it possible for us to defeat the aggressor, to restore peace, democracy and justice and not to let invaders destroy our land,” says Oleksandra Koval, director of the Ukrainian Book Institute.

The Mystetskyi Arsenal, the Goethe-Institut and other Ukrainian partners also offer an international discussion programme Fragility of freedom, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. This programme aims to strengthen the resilience of Ukrainian cultural and educational partners.

“Although the explosion of the Kakhovka Dam, the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, or the targeted destruction of grain fields are widely reported in the news, we are still not sufficiently aware of how catastrophically Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine affects the ecosystem. The extent of the destruction is not yet known, but we can see how important it is to treat this issue with all seriousness. Ninety years after the Holodomor, Ukrainian grain production is again under threat; famine is being used as a weapon to awaken the Ukrainian trauma of artificially created famine. The consequences of this are now being felt all over the world. It is these urgent topics that will become the focus of our program’s discussion with famous intellectuals from Germany, Ukraine and other countries,” said Fabian Mühlthaler, director of the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine.

Among the authors and public figures who will also represent the national stand are Iryna Tsylyk, Evgenia Lopata, Maksym Yakovlev, Kateryna Mikhalitsina, Volodymyr Yermolenko, Oksana Zabuzhko, Anna Novosad, Oleksandr Mykhed, Pavlo Kazarin, Yaryna Chornoguz, Sevgil Musaeva, Svitlana Oslavska, Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, Alyona Karavai, Vakhtang Kebuladze, Kateryna Kalytko, Yuliia Kozlovets, Pavlo Goldin, Kateryna Shavanova, Tanya Piankova, Ostap Slyvinsky, Kateryna Botanova, Kyrylo Bezkorovainy and others. The full Ukrainian programme in English is available here.

Mystetskyi Arsenal stand

With the concept of Presence vs Absence, the Mystetskyi Arsenal will present its stand J103 in the Hall 3.1 of the Art Books / Art / Design exhibition area. In February 2022, the Mystetskyi Arsenal started researching the works of Ukrainian artists who in their creative activity witness and reflect on the Russia-Ukraine war from 2014 to the present moment. The collected works later became part of the Ukraine Ablaze online archive, showcasing a cross-section of current artistic practices, as well as the Ukraine Ablaze printed edition presented at the stand. The stand design features the works of Andrii Denysenko, a Ukrainian photographer, from the series Volunteers of Chernihiv Region (2022). Double exposure, used by the author as an artistic method, combines images of people and the background of destroyed buildings. These works are evidence of preservation and renovation. They reveal the invisible work of people who oppose the murderous logic of the war with their existence.

Pictoric and the International Book Arsenal Festival will present the international illustration exhibition ‘When Everything Matters’ in Agora, C11. Inspired by the focus theme of the 11th International Book Arsenal Festival, the exhibition presents new works by leading Ukrainian and international creators. This project is a dialogue of Ukrainian illustrators and graphic designers with artists from other countries and a discussion of important topics in the language of illustration. With the financial support of the German Federal Foreign Office, during this year’s Buchmesse, for the second time, the Special Programme for publishers from Ukraine and neighbouring countries will be held, a professional programme launched by the Frankfurter Buchmesse in 2022 as part of the strategic partnership and in cooperation with the International Book Arsenal Festival and the Goethe-Institut Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Institute stand

The Ukrainian Institute’s stand invites to discover the diversity of the Ukrainian culture. Two multimedia projects will showcase the past and present of culture in Ukraine as well as the devastating impact of war on art. The stand is a part of the THE ARTS+ platform, which serves as a gateway between publishing and the international creative industries. The audiovisual artwork Discover Ukraine: Bits Destroyed immerses the viewer in the Ukrainian monumental art of the 1960s and 70s. More than a quarter of these works have been damaged or destroyed since the beginning of the Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Insight.UA, an English-language digital guide to Ukrainian culture, is another project that invites guests to explore Ukrainian culture through various formats – from selections of Ukrainian films, exhibitions, and books to listening to playlists or watching online courses.

The Mystetskyi Arsenal is Ukraine’s flagship cultural institution that brings together various arts — from contemporary art, new music, and theatre to literature and museum development. The mission of the Mystetskyi Arsenal is to contribute to modernization of Ukrainian society and Ukraine’s integration into the global context based on the axiological potential of culture.

The Ukrainian Institute is a state institution dedicated to spotlighting Ukrainian culture globally and nurturing profound cultural ties with other countries and peoples. Since 2017, the Institute has worked worldwide with the head office in Kyiv. In 2023, its first branches opened in Europe: Berlin, Germany, and Paris, France. The Ukrainian Institute is affiliated with Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Ukrainian Book Institute is a government entity, part of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Its mission is to shape state policy in the area of book publishing, promote book reading in Ukraine, support the book industry, provide incentives for translations and popularise Ukrainian literature abroad.

The Goethe-Institut is a cultural institution of the Federal Republic of Germany that operates worldwide. With 158 institutes in 98 countries, it promotes learning German abroad, international cultural cooperation, and the spread of a modern image of Germany. Since its foundation in 1993, the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine has become one of the most important promoters of the Ukrainian educational and cultural landscape.

Many discussions that took place during the 11th International Book Arsenal Festival highlighted important social, political, cultural, and artistic processes and contexts that became particularly significant for Ukraine, Ukrainian society, and the world due to the full-scale Russian war in Ukraine. The Festival team made sure that fans of the Book Arsenal could watch some of the discussions on the YouTube channel of the Mystetskyi Arsenal. So we invite you to watch and listen to the following videos!

The following videos from the discussions are available in English:

• Timothy Snyder’s Online Lecture “Why Freedom Matters More Than Everything” 
• The Discussion “How Will Ukraine Change the World?”
• The Discussion “What Kind of Crime is Russia Committing?” 
• The Discussion “Supporting Ukraine in Latin America”

More discussions are available in Ukrainian, in particular, you can watch the following videos:

• The Discussion “Democracy and War”
• Timothy Snyder’s Online Lecture “Why Freedom Matters More Than Everything” 
• The Discussion “Our Crimea: On the Book Pages”
• The Discussion “How Will Ukraine Change the World?”
• The Discussion “Joint Action: What Ukrainian Resistance Looks Like”
• The Discussion “Can I Do More?”
• The Discussion “We Are the State” 
• A Lecture by Vitaliy Portnikov “The Memory of Bloodlands”
• The Discussion “What Kind of Crime is Russia Committing?” 

You can also watch the  video that shows the atmosphere of this year’s festival ⤵️

📌 Videos — Yuri Gryaznov, Natalia Pyrohova and the media service MEGOGO 

Germany’s Minister of State for Culture and the Media to support cultural projects, in particular, the program activities of the Mystetskyi Arsenal

A new funding project is being set up to support the Ukrainian book trade and foster deeper exchange between the Ukrainian and German cultural sectors. Germany’s Minister of State for Culture and the Media, Claudia Roth, has earmarked €900,000 for the endeavor, which comprises a series of individual projects aimed at fostering the work of Ukrainian authors, publishers and media professionals as well as promoting wider acquaintance with Ukrainian culture and history in Germany. The German Publishers and Booksellers Association will head up the project, working in close cooperation with the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Ukrainian Book Institute, the cultural institution Mystetskyi Arsenal, the online literary and cultural magazine Chytomo and the Goethe Institute Ukraine.

With its war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia is also systematically waging war against Ukrainian culture and social identity. We see this whenever and wherever Russian aggression is specifically directed against libraries, printing houses and other institutions associated with literature. It is almost impossible for publishers to work under such conditions, and the public’s access to books in general is also made extremely difficult. This makes our project in service of a stronger exchange between the German and Ukrainian book industries all the more important. Each partner to the project, which will be headed up by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, will contribute key momentum to the joint effort to safeguard the shattered literary landscape in Ukraine. At the same time, these partners will also be contributing to a deeper understanding of Ukrainian culture and literature here in Germany. The federal government is doing its utmost to support Ukraine in this regard

— Claudia Roth, Germany’s Minister of State for Culture and the Media, stated the following with regard to the project.

As representatives of the German book trade, we are eager to show solidarity with our Ukrainian colleagues and mitigate the devastating effects of war on arts and literary communities wherever possible. We thank Minister Roth for providing this vital support alongside many other partners. The forthcoming projects will encourage us to learn more from each other, as well as to learn more about each other. The projects will also help to make German literature more widely known in Ukraine and Ukrainian literature more widely known in Germany. This is an important building block in efforts to rebuild the publishing and book-industry landscape in Ukraine

— Peter Kraus vom Cleff, Managing Director of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, added.

Given the conditions caused by Russia’s full-scale military aggression against Ukraine, I cannot overestimate the importance of support for the Ukrainian book industry within the framework of cultural cooperation. I am especially grateful for the collection of books by prominent German authors that will be made available to our public libraries, but also for the active inclusion of Ukrainian authors at leading German cultural events and support for the Ukrainian book trade at the Frankfurt Book Fair. All of these opportunities provided to Ukrainian literature help to strengthen the voice of Ukrainian culture in Europe. This is something that is especially vital to all Ukrainians at the present time

— Oleksandra Koval, Director of the Ukrainian Book Institute, said the following in response.

Among the activities set to receive support are the following: enhancing the collection of German literature held by Ukrainian libraries, inviting Ukrainian authors to speak at German bookshops and other literary venues, a new “Ukrainian Publishing Prize”, an English-language online platform for literature from Ukraine and other countries in the region, and the spotlighting of Ukraine at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The funding period is scheduled to run until June 2024.  Several different partners involved in realizing projects, and we thank them for this initiative!

28,000 visitors and nearly 100 events — the 11th International Book Arsenal Festival came to an end at the Mystetskyi Arsenal

The 11th International Book Arsenal Festival finished on June 25, 2023. The soulful musical stand-up by Sasha Koltsova, the frontwoman of the Kryhitka music band, and a semi-acoustic performance by the band were the Festival’s closing events. Visitors to the 11th Book Arsenal experienced and participated in about 100 events: discussions, lectures, presentations, poetry readings, autograph sessions, concerts, performances, film screenings, and exhibition projects.

For us, holding Book Arsenal in 2023 is a symbol of resilience, but not only that. It is also an emotional and intellectual resource for our society: being together with like-minded people, exchanging observations and ideas, mourning and rejoicing collectively, and reading and reciting poems together. All this is extremely needed in times of trial. I am extremely glad that everything worked out. I believe we will all endure, and the next Book Arsenal will be even better

— Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, Director General of the Mystetskyi Arsenal.

Last year, the Festival was not held due to the full-scale war of Russia in Ukraine. Under martial law, the 11th Book Arsenal underwent changes and lasted only three full days. The Festival’s scale was somewhat different as it took place only on the first floor of the Mystetskyi Arsenal and the Street Stage. The basic structure of the Book Arsenal remained unchanged. It consisted of the Festival’s Event Program and the book fair with corresponding thematic sections from Kyiv bookstores. The Fiction section was presented by the Book Lion bookstore, the Nonfiction section was presented by the Sens bookstore, the Children’s Books, as well as Comics and Graphic Prose sections were presented by Zakapelok bookstore, the Art book section was managed by the Dovzhenko Centre, and the section with Books about the Russia-Ukraine war was managed by Syaivo Knyhy municipal bookstore.

During the 11th Book Arsenal, seven curatorial and special programs were presented:

• The focus theme “When Everything Matters”, curated by Nataliya Gumenyuk
• The literary program “Transforming the Experience into Memory”, curated by Iryna Slavinska
• The Program for/about Kids and Teens, “When the War Is Not Only in Books”, curated by Yuliia Kozlovets
• The Professional Program of the Book Arsenal, curated by Oksana Karpiuk
• The special program “(non)public libraries” by the Literary Laboratory of the Mystetskyi Arsenal, curated by Dima Kazakov
• Dovzhenko Centre Special Program “Literary Movie Canon. Volume One”
• PEN Ukraine Special Program

Video — Anna Perepelytsia. Music— SI Process & Dennis Adu – Protea

Visitors to the Festival had the opportunity to see and look through books published from July 2022 to June 2023 at the Vitryna Novynok, a showcase of new titles (an annual special project by Chytomo and the Book Arsenal). You can also view the Vitryna Novynok digitally at the Chytomo website.

The visual program of the Festival included seven exhibition projects. In addition, visitors could visit the Forms of Presence exhibition in the right wing of the first floor of the Mystetskyi Arsenal and the (pro)movy exhibition curated by the Laboratory of Contemporary Art “Mala Gallery of Mystetskyi Arsenal”.

As usual, visitors had a chance to see the projects engaging illustrators, graphic designers, and font designers in the space and within the program of the Festival. In particular, there was an #ОБОЛОНЬЯ wall with promo posters of Ukrainian illustrators while the Illustrators’ Showcase was presented in the Museum Shop of the Mystetskyi Arsenal.

More than 200 guests participated in the XI Book Arsenal Event Program. The voices of Ukrainian and international guests could be heard from the Festival stages, including Pavlo Khazan, Ostap Slyvynsky, Vitaly Portnikov, Dmytro Kuleba, Irena Karpa, Oleksandra Koval, Olya Rusina, Ilona Zamotsna, Pavlo Vyshebaba, Oleksandra Matviichuk, Timothy Snyder, Gvantsa Jobava, Peter Pomerantsev, Wayne Jordash, Héctor Abad Faciolince, Ivan Krastev, Daiva Čepauskaitė, Peter Kraus vom Cleff, Radovan Auer, Rati Mujiri and other public and cultural figures, military, politicians, writers, poets, publishers, artists, designers, illustrators, journalists, philosophers, translators, human rights defenders, directors, musicians, entrepreneurs, et alii. On the first day of the 11th Book Arsenal, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska visited the Festival.

Seven events of this year’s Book Arsenal were prepared and held jointly with the Festival’s media partner — Radio Culture: three public interviews and four poetry readings. All public interviews were broadcast live on Radio Culture, and the recorded poetry will be heard in the coming days in the line of radio literary programs.

The MEGOGO media service exclusively broadcast the events of the first Festival day of the 11th Book Arsenal: the “Democracy and War” discussion, as well as the “Our Crimea: On the Book Pages of Books” discussion. Viewing 11th Book Arsenal events via MEGOGO was free even for non-registered users. You can watch the broadcast at the link. You can also watch these events recorded on the YouTube channel of the Mystetskyi Arsenal.

The Festival team made a video recording of some of the discussions, in particular, Timothy Snyder’s online lecture “Why Freedom Matters More Than Everything”. This event is already available for viewing on the YouTube channel of the Mystetskyi Arsenal. Other discussion video recordings, as well as text materials, will be published soon.

Eighty volunteers joined the activities of the 11th Book Arsenal, supported the Festival team, and made the visitors’ experience comfortable.

Organizer of the Book Arsenal International Festival: Mystetskyi Arsenal in cooperation with the Art Arsenal Community NGO. The project is funded by aid from the governments of Canada, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States through the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine programme. The organizers are thankful to the partners who joined the Festival in 2023 for their support.

The Book Arsenal is an international event organized by Mystetskyi Arsenal. The Festival has been taking place since 2011, and during this decade, it has become one of the most influential literary and artistic events in Eastern Europe. In 2019, it won the title “Best Literary Festival of the World”. The mission of the Book Arsenal International 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 11th Book Arsenal announces the start of ticket sales for the Festival.

For you to enjoy:

• book fair — 6 thematic sections
• about 100 tailored events of the Focus Theme, the Literary program, the Program for/about Kids and Teens, the Professional program, the Special Program by the Literary Laboratory of the Mystetskyi Arsenal, the PEN Ukraine Special Program, the Dovzhenko Centre Special Program, master classes and performances
• 7 exhibition projects
• more than 1000 books on Vitryna Novynok

Ticket — ₴ 100
Family ticket* — ₴ 300
Subscription tickets** (four days) — ₴ 300

Tickets can be bought at the box-office of the Mystetskyi Arsenal.

Free admission on any day is available for:

• children under 12
• retired people***
• adults and children with disabilities and one accompanying person***
• combatants, military service people***
• family members of the deceased combatants and veterans of the war (2013-2023)***
• internally displaced persons***
• museum workers***, holders of ICOM and CIMAM cards

* Family ticket is a single-entry ticket for 2 adults and 2 children aged 12 and over.

** Subscription ticket is for one person, for all days of the festival.

***A valid ID must be presented at the entrance.

You can re-use the ticket on the same day in the event of an air alert.

Book Arsenal invites teenagers to participate in the Antytvir 2023 project

Antytvir is a project for teenagers in grades 8-11 who write, illustrate and/or draw works using non-standard approaches. Antytvir usually takes place within the International Book Arsenal Festival.

This year, all the antytvir-works will be accepted, without any evaluation by the jury or awards; the work of each participant, once it undergoes technical selection, will be posted on the Book Arsenal website. The Antytvir project aims at recording the experiences of teenagers who, in addition to their own personal crises and searches, are experiencing the war.

The theme of Antytvir 2023 is “Shades of Changes”.

Changes are the integral part of our life. Every change has its own shade, colour, and energy that affects our perception of the world. Like a mosaic of pieces of glass in different shades, the story of life in times of changes consists of unique moments seen through the eyes of hundreds of people. From these descriptions, the future generations will little by little collect the general picture of how we lived and what we felt

the team of the project says.

Read more about the theme of Antytvir 2023 here.

When creating your antytvir-works, we offer to reflect on:

• changes as a way to enrich your life experience;
• the importance of tracing every shade of changes, both positive and negative;
• being ready for changes, and whether it is possible at all.

In your antytvir-work, we encourage you to choose an unusual form, perspective. You can tell your story on behalf of a subject, dedicate your whole work to the moment of destruction or the process of construction; write about something existing or fictional; do it in the form of a text-message novel, a graphic novel, or write and illustrate your own work.

UPD! The deadline is June 11th, 23:59. After the technical selection of works (checking for compliance with the language, volume of text, image format), your works will be published on the website.

The educational programme for the contestants will be held in June. It includes a series of online workshops by creative writing professionals, writers, and a motivational lecture by partners from the UK.

Funded by the British Council International Collaboration Grants programme with support from The Times & Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival.

We will be waiting for your antytvir-works! Follow the news in your mailbox and social networks.

View the antytvir-works from previous years here:

Nataliya Gumenyuk, Ukrainian journalist, author, documentary filmmaker, the CEO of the Public Interest Journalism Lab, has been chosen as the curator of the focus theme of the 11th International Book Arsenal Festival.

Nataliya Gumenyuk. Photo: Oleksandr Popenko © Mystetskyi Arsenal

Nataliya Gumenyuk is a Ukrainian journalist, documentary filmmaker, and author specializing in conflict reporting. She is the CEO of the Public Interest Journalism Lab which researches, creates, and promotes best practices of public interest journalism in the digital age. She is the lead journalist and co-founder of The Reckoning Project, an international initiative of journalists and lawyers to document war crimes during the Russian war against Ukraine. Nataliya is the author of several documentaries and books, including The Lost Island: Tales From The Occupied Crimea, and Maidan Tahrir. 

“When Everything Matters” is the chosen focus theme of the 11th Book Arsenal Festival. Here is how Nataliya Gumenyuk describes it:

We are living in a time of aggravated reality when almost every word and every phrase acquires its original meaning. As if everything around is going through a reality check. In particular, our values and ideals.
The 11th Book Arsenal is a space for recognizing, as well as creating a new civic vocabulary for the things that we have not yet verbalized. This is a place where, by reflecting on our current experience, we will be able not only to comprehend, but also to word ourselves and what is going on with us, with society, with the country, and with the world

— Nataliya Gumenyuk, the curator of the focus theme “When Everything Matters”

The 11th Book Arsenal has also chosen Iryna Slavinska, the Executive Producer of Radio Culture, translator and writer, as the curator of the main literary program.

Iryna Slavinska. Photo: Oleksandr Popenko © Mystetskyi Arsenal

Iryna Slavinska is the Executive Producer of Radio Culture, translator and writer. Member of the European Broadcasting Union Radio Committee. Member of PEN Ukraine. Slavinska is the author of the books My Spare Lives, Stories of Talented People, 33 Heroes of Ukrainian Literature, Almost Adult, Adult Indeed. She is a French translator. Among her translation works are the novel Compass by Mathias Enard (the Old Lion Publishing House) and the monograph Le premier sex (Osnovy Publishing) by André Rauch.

The festival program of events, in addition to the events of the focus theme and the events of the literary program, will also include the Kids and Teens program, curated by Yuliia Kozlovets. The special program by the Literary Laboratory of the Mystetskyi Arsenal, curated by Dima Kazakov, will be about little traveling, homeless libraries, real and online archives, collecting, personal book and vinyl collections, curated shelves, and zines. The special program of events will also be presented by PEN Ukraine.

As usual, the projects by illustrators, graphic designers, and font designers will be presented at the fair and in the festival program. In addition, professional events for the publishing community are planned.

Since 2017, the International Book Arsenal Festival has been choosing a focus theme that invites the participants and visitors to seek answers to current issues together. Every focus theme has a curator. “Laughter. Fear. Power”, the focus theme of 2017, was curated by Tetiana Teren. “The Project of the Future” in 2018, “Neighborhood: an Open Question” in 2019; Vira Baldyniuk curated the focus themes of both years. Rostyslav Semkiv was the curator of “Optimists Skeptics”, the focus theme of the 10th Book Arsenal Festival. 

For the Book Arsenal 2022, the focus theme “The Migration Period” was chosen, curated by Oksana Forostyna. The Book Arsenal 2022 was canceled due to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The International Book Arsenal Festival (IBAF) is an annual event organized by the Mystetskyi Arsenal since 2011. During this decade it has become one of the most influential literary and art events in Eastern Europe. In 2019, IBAF won The Literary Festival Award of The London Book Fair International Excellence Awards 2019. 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.

At the 11th International Book Arsenal Festival, a special section called Books about the Russia-Ukraine War will be presented within the fair. During all days of the festival, these books will be available for purchase in the left wing of the first floor of the Mystetskyi Arsenal.

The Books about the Russia-Ukraine War section, operated by Syaivo Knyhy municipal bookstore, will be organized by the Book Arsenal with the support of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine. The section will be coordinated by Hlib Malych, director of Syaivo Knyhy bookstore, and Ganna Skorina, the author of the #Книги_про_війну project, researcher of war literature.

The section will present books about the Russia-Ukraine war from 2014, written by both military and civilians, as well as books published by veteran publishing houses.

These books, above all things, are about the future of Ukraine. These are new pages of the national heritage that will be studied in the generations to come. It is obvious that the veteran theme is already a powerful trend in contemporary literature. I want this literature to be read, to be translated into other languages, so that people in the world know about the events in Ukraine, and the price of our victories

— Yuliia Laputina, Minister for Veterans Affairs of Ukraine.

Any publishing house, as well as authors who self-published their books, have the opportunity to present their books for sale during the 11th Book Arsenal in the Books about the Russia-Ukraine War section. For this, they should contact the operator of this section.

Contacts

Syaivo Knyhy municipal bookstore of the Miskyi Mahazyn municipal enterprise

Asya Khazova
[email protected]
+380980078324

Ganna Skorina
[email protected]

The deadline for submitting applications into the section is June 10, 2023.

The books can also be exhibited at the Vitryna Novynok, a showcase of new titles, which will be formed by the Book Arsenal together with Chytomo. In addition, signing sessions and meetings with authors are planned within this section.

Syaivo Knyhy is the oldest bookstore in Kyiv, founded in 1944. At present, the municipal bookstore-café hosts presentations of new book titles, artistic events, meetings, in particular with war veterans and servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, presentations, and other cultural events. Syaivo Knyhy is not only a bookstore, it is a place with history where the Ukrainian creative cluster gather together for creative expression, personal and national cultural development.

UKRAINE IS AN IMPORTANT FOCUS POINT AT THE LEIPZIGER BUCHMESSE 2023 WHICH WILL BE HELD ON APRIL 27-30 IN LEIPZIG (GERMANY).

Supported by the organizers of the fair, this year Ukraine is represented at the Leipziger Buchmesse by the Ukrainian national stand organized by the Ukrainian Book Institute, the stand of the Mystetskyi Arsenal, and the stand of the Meridian Czernowitz International Poetry Festival.

The Mystetskyi Arsenal will present its stand (Hall 4, Stand D307b) under the slogan “Arsenal of Books & Arts & Resilience”. The visual concept of the stand reflects the reality of the war, “Ukrainian art under the gun”. At the Mystetskyi Arsenal stand, visitors will have an opportunity to learn more about the history of the Mystetskyi Arsenal and the International Book Arsenal Festival, and to look through the editions to the exhibitions that were held at the Mystetskyi Arsenal. The visual component of the stand was created by Alla Sorochan and Kostya Martsenkivsky, a team of designers at the Mystetskyi Arsenal.

The special program of events called “Weiter Denken / Erinnern / Neugestalten” (“Re-think/ Re-build / Re-flect”) is implemented by the Goethe-Institut in cooperation with the Federal Agency for Civic Education of Germany (bpb), the Mystetskyi Arsenal National Art and Culture Museum Complex, the Ukrainian Book Institute, the Ukrainian Institute, and the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM, Vienna).

For instance, the Mystetskyi Arsenal and the International Book Arsenal Festival co-organized a series of events.

• On April 27, at 12:30 p.m., the talk “The best book design from Ukraine and all over the world” will be held.
  Participants: Yuliia Kozlovets, International Book Arsenal Festival; Mariia Shubchyk, Goethe-Institut Ukraine; Carolin Blöink, Stiftung Buchkunst.
  On the same day, at 4:30 p.m., the discussion “Stepping out of the shadow of the empire: thoughts on the decolonization of culture and the state” will take place.
  Participants: Kateryna Botanova, cultural critic, journalist, curator, and translator; Ovidiu Tichindeleanu, cultural theorist.
  Moderated by Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, Director General of the Mystetskyi Arsenal.
• On April 29, at 12:00 noon, the talk “Speaking to be heard” will be held.
  Participants: Iryna Tsilyk, film director, author; Lyubov Yakimchuk, author, screenwriter.
  Moderated by Yuliia Kozlovets, Director of the International Book Arsenal Festival.
• On April 30, at 11:30 a.m., the conversation “Propaganda at full speed” will be held with the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk and the media expert Kyrylo Bezkorovainyi, moderated by Yuliia Kozlovets.

Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, Director General of the Mystetskyi Arsenal, will also participate in the event “Beyond big words: What does Ukraine need for cultural reconstruction?”, which will take place on April 28 at 4:00 p.m. She will be joined in the discussion by Johannes Ebert, General Secretary and Chairman of the Goethe-Institut, and Kateryna Botanova, cultural critic, journalist, curator, and translator. Moderated by Natasha Freundel.

All the events of the Ukrainian program will take place on the UKRAINE stage of our National stand.

The main theme of the Ukrainian stand is the Destroyed Library exposition of furniture from destroyed libraries of Ukraine. The slogan “Sensitive Content” draws attention of the international community to destroyal of Ukrainian libraries due to russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Read more about the Ukrainian national stand and the Ukrainian program via the link. 

In addition to the events at the fair, on Saturday, April 29, Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig will also host the Ukraine Day with the slogan “Übers Wasser gehen” (“Walking Over Water”), organized by the Federal Agency for Civic Education of Germany.

As part of the Leipziger Buchmesse program, there will also be an award ceremony for the winners of this year’s Best Book Design from All Over the World competition, an international competition organized by Stiftung Buchkunst. The winning books of the Best Book Design Contest 2022 will be exhibited at Stiftung Buchkunst stand during all days of the fair.

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Mystetskyi Arsenal is Ukraine’s flagship cultural institution that brings together various arts – from contemporary art, new music and theatre to literature and museum development. The mission of the Mystetskyi Arsenal is to contribute to modernization of Ukrainian society and Ukraine’s integration into the global context based on the axiological potential of culture.

The International Book Arsenal Festival (IBAF) is an annual event organized by the Mystetskyi Arsenal since 2011. During this decade it has become one of the most influential literary and art events in Eastern Europe. In 2019, IBAF won The Literary Festival Award of The London Book Fair International Excellence Awards 2019. 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.

Leipziger Buchmesse is the most important get-together in the spring for the book and media industry, connecting readers with authors, publishers and media companies from Germany and around the world. They all visit Leipzig to experience a diversity of literature, discover innovations and gain new perspectives.

The International Book Arsenal Festival announces the dates and the format of the 11th festival

Despite the state of war, with its challenges and limitations, the Mystetskyi Arsenal team is organising the 11th Book Arsenal Festival, hoping it will once again unite the book, literary, and art scenes in its space, and become a meeting place for book people.

This year, the 11th International Book Arsenal Festival will run from June 22 (official opening in the evening) to June 25.

Since the Russian invasion, Mystetskyi Arsenal has been constantly trying to support its audiences: visitors, readers, artists, and culture professionals. We are sure that all of us need Book Arsenal, this year more than ever. The festival shall support us, strengthen our resilience, and be an inspiration. So today we announce the dates of the annual festival, and we will do everything we can to create a comfortable and safe space to come together, and to provide a platform to make sense of our experiences. We will work tirelessly to make it happen — a meeting place for books, readers, and authors, perhaps the most important one in Ukraine

— Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, Director General of the Mystetskyi Arsenal.

The core structure of the Book Arsenal remains unchanged for our visitors and will consist of two elements: the event program of the festival, and the book fair with respective thematic sections. The Book Arsenal will be held in the left wing of the first floor of the Old Arsenal.

This year, the book fair will be organized in a different way: due to the very unequal working conditions of the publishing market representatives because of the war, the impossibility of organizing their equal representation with individual stands, and the riskiness in terms of safety and security, the book sales at the festival will be operated not by separate publishing houses, but by local Kyiv bookstores:

• Sens bookstore will manage the Nonfiction section,
• Book Lion bookstore will manage the Fiction section,
• Zakapelok bookstore will manage the Children’s Books, as well as Comics and Graphic Novels sections.

In addition, the Dovzhenko Centre will be the operator of the Art Book section as part of its interinstitutional partnership with the Mystetskyi Arsenal.

The Book Arsenal pays special attention to the War Literature section. A selection of books created by war veterans, combatants, and members of their families — books about war published after 2014 — will be presented at the fair.

Our team has worked through several scenarios, looking for a decision on the format of the festival in the state of war. The format that we offer aims to present our visitors with a wide inclusive selection of books from the maximum range of Ukrainian publishing houses, which, in turn, will help support more agents in the industry. In addition, the cooperation with local independent bookstores, I hope, will allow us to draw attention to the importance of this particular link in the way of a book from the author to the reader: such bookstores, each with its brand, client approach, the culture of building healthy business relations with publishers, and the strategy of developing local communities around them deserve greater visibility. It is also important that such format of the Book Arsenal will allow publishers to participate in the festival as guests, have more opportunities to focus on meetings and exchange of experience with colleagues, networking, and internal professional discussions

— Yuliia Kozlovets, Director of the International Book Arsenal Festival.

The Book Arsenal event program will be created by the invited curators. Over 60 tailored events of the focus theme, the literary program, the Kids and Teens program, performances, and professional events will take place on three stages.

For the safety of the participants of the fair and the event program, a shelter is available in the Mystetskyi Arsenal, equipped thanks to the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.

More information about the focus theme, curators, and the event program will be available soon on the Book Arsenal website.

The International Book Arsenal Festival (IBAF) is an annual event organized by the Mystetskyi Arsenal since 2011. During this decade it has become one of the most influential literary and art events in Eastern Europe. In 2019, IBAF won The Literary Festival Award of The London Book Fair International Excellence Awards 2019. 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.