Dear colleagues, partners, friends!

It has been one and a half months since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and today we regret to inform you that the Mystetskyi Arsenal team has made an obvious yet difficult decision: the International Book Arsenal Festival will not take place in May 2022.

The brave Ukrainian people are defending the country, repulsing the enemy’s aggression on various fronts, and we all realise that we still need time for the decisive victory.

Now, in wartime, our team is working to support the publishing industry as well as the literary and artistic scene in Ukraine, and to support our community. 

These days, our activities are focused on three areas:

• We are informing the international  book community about the Russia-Ukraine war, developing a coalition of cultural institutions to boycott Russian culture product and business, and communicating the opportunities to help victims of the war, especially migrant and displaced children, publishers, and translators.
• In cooperation with our colleagues from Literary Laboratory, we have already implemented the final event of the Ukraine-Scotland: Collaborative Literary Project – Translation in Focus: Beyond Any Curtain – adjusting it to the requirements of wartime; together with the Mystetskyi Arsenal Education Department, we have launched a teenage project Antytvir 2022; and we are also working on a number of other program ideas;
• We have transformed Ukrainian Literature: Rights On! Project in accordance with the new conditions. Now it is aimed at distributing the catalogues of Ukrainian publishers abroad. This helps to establish and enhance cooperation with international partners and support Ukrainian publishing houses. We have managed to establish quick and effective communication with numerous book fairs all over the world. The members of our team, as a part of a working group of relevant cultural institutions, have already organised Ukraine’s participation with a manifesto stand at the Bologna Book Fair (March 21-24), as well as at the London Book Fair (April 5-7). And we keep on working!

The members of the festival team are participating in international events as guest speakers. These events include the Board Meeting of European Network for Literary Translation (ENLIT), Caucasus and Black Sea Basin Countries’ Regional Publishing Conference, etc. We are grateful to our colleagues from all over the world who offer platforms for Ukraine’s voice.

Now our activities are aimed at preserving the institution and the team, and therefore – at supporting the book and its audience; we are working for our victory.

And after our victory, the team will return to the activities we love and are good at: we will organise and hold the 11th Book Arsenal, with its unique atmosphere of freedom of expression, discussions, meetings of authors and their readers, and warm hugs under the peaceful sky in the Old Arsenal yard.

While the Ukrainian army continues to defend every piece of Ukrainian territory, every civilian, and the very spirit of freedom and democracy in the world, the Ukrainian and world publishing community stands for our values here at the London Book Fair on 5-7 April, 2022.

This year Ukraine is participating at the LBF with a national stand, which focuses on non-fiction books (located 2B05). The aim is to present those publications that would help to understand Ukraine and its ancient and modern history and culture, as well as the reasons for the current war. The stand was designed by the art director of the Mystetskyi Arsenal, Lera Guevska.

After eight years of military aggression against Ukraine (occupied Donbas and occupied the Crimean Peninsula), Russia has launched an unprecedented full-scale war against our country. On 24 February 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation attacked Ukraine. As of 30 March, 1219 civilians were killed, including 148 children. Russians destroyed a huge number of civil infrastructure, including kindergartens, hospitals, libraries, and cultural properties. Over three million people took refuge in other countries.

Russian invasion is the biggest and the deadliest than any other conflict that took place in Europe since World War II. United in bravery and determination, Ukrainians are fighting the aggressor on all fronts.

We are very grateful to everyone for your invaluable support in recent months. You have done a lot to tell the world about Ukraine and the criminal war that Russia has waged against us. We really appreciate you being around. But we are very sorry that we barely knew each other before, that you knew so little about our culture and history during the last 30 years of our independence.

We have always been part of Europe and European culture. In addition to what we are today and what we are doing today, it is important for us that you know about our foundations, what shaped us, what our country was built upon.

You are also welcome to watch stories of those representatives of the literature and publishing community that are on the frontlines now or are reflecting on their experiences of exile.

In this war all dimensions — military, political, humanitarian, and cultural — equally matter. Culture is never neutral, it’s always political to the extent it’s relevant in its time.

Unfortunately, ukrainian publishers will not be present on the stand, but you can find books. Here are presented books of Ukrainian publishers: Chorna Hora, Krytyka, Vivat, Yakaboo, Komora, Knyholove, Duh i litera, Tempora, Ukraїner, Portal, Їzhakultura, Artbook, Vikhola, The Old Lion Publishing House, Rodovid, аnd also foreign publishing houses which translate Ukrainian books and publish books about Ukraine the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University (HURI), Academic Studies Press.

Organizers: Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Ukrainian Book Institute, Ukrainian Institute, PEN Ukraine, Book Arsenal, Book Forum.

Ukraine’s participation at the London Book Fair was made possible by a partnership with the British Council Ukraine within the UK/Ukraine Season 2022.

With the support of the Embassy of Ukraine in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

How you can HELP Ukraine at the London Book Fair:

• Make a photo/video at the Ukrainian stand and publish posts on your personal and institutional social media pages to condemn the Russian aggression and support Ukraine using #StandWithUkraine, #StopRussianAggression
• Explore how you can Translate Ukraine (Translate Ukraine 2021, Drahoman Prize)
• Explore rights catalogs of Ukrainian publishers — Ukrainian Literature: Rights On!
• Donate to printing and distributing of Ukrainian book for kids-refugees abroad

How you can HELP Ukraine worldwide:

• Support Ukraine
• Boycott Russian cultural activities. We ask you to suspend all your projects that involve Russian institutions and individuals and not engage in any cooperation with Russian culture or education sector #BoycottRussia
• Donate to printing and distributing of Ukrainian book for kids-refugees abroad
• Donate to Ukraine’s defenders
• Read and share information about book market of Ukraine under Russia’s attack

The international cultural community has the power to help put an end to this war. We ask for your support in the name of democratic values, peace, truth, and freedom of choice.

Contact persons:
General questions
Sofia Cheliak [email protected]

The representative of the team in London
Olha Mukha [email protected]

Team of the Ukrainian stand

Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine

The Ukrainian Book Institute is a government entity affiliated to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Its mission is to develop state policy in the book sector, promote reading in Ukraine, support book publishing, encourage translation activity, and popularize Ukrainian literature abroad.

The Ukrainian Institute is a public institution affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Its mission is to strengthen Ukraine’s international standing through the means of cultural diplomacy. The Institute facilitates international connections between people and institutions and creates opportunities for Ukraine to interact and cooperate with the world.

PEN Ukraine is a cultural and human rights public organization uniting 140 members, Ukrainian intellectuals – writers, journalists, scholars, publishers, translators, human rights defenders, cultural managers. The Ukrainian PEN is one of 146 national PEN Centres of PEN International. PEN Ukraine is focused on protection of freedom of speech and authors’ rights, promotion of literature development and international cultural cooperation.

International Book Arsenal Festival is an annual project of the Mystetskyi Arsenal (Kyiv) and 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.

Lviv International BookForum has taken place annually, since 1994. It is Ukraine’s largest literary festival, one of the biggest festivals in Central and Eastern Europe. Over the past 28 years, the purpose of the Festival is the creation of a full-fledged dialogue between representatives of Ukrainian and foreign literature; dissemination of Ukrainian culture abroad; definition of the main tendencies and directions of development of the world literature process into the Ukrainian context.

At this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair, one of the largest fairs in the book world, Ukraine will be represented with an empty manifesto stand. This way, the Ukrainian book community appeals to colleagues from other countries for support, in order to return to the Bologna Book Fair next year.

Appeal to the Western Book Community in English

The International Book Arsenal Festival has co-initiated the manifesto stand. Its design was created by the Art Director of the Festival Lera Guevska. The organizers of the Bologna Book Fair are providing a free stand to Ukraine, meanwhile refusing the participation of Russia, as well as urging publishers-participants to bring Ukrainian translations of children’s books in order to collect them together as part of a joint exhibition.

Free presence at one of the world’s largest book fairs was made possible thanks to the joint efforts of the Ukrainian Book Institute, the Ukrainian Institute, PEN Ukraine, the Book Arsenal and the BookForum International Festival.

The manifesto stand will be exhibited throughout the Bologna Book Fair that will be running March 21 to 24, 2022. The stand was designed by the art director of the Mystetskyi Arsenal, Lera Guevska.

During the fair, the visitors of the stand will have an opportunity to get acquainted with the rights catalogues of Ukrainian publishers from the Book Arsenal Ukrainian Literature: Rights On! project; to get information about participation in the translation programs of the Ukrainian Book Institute; to post photos / videos of the stand in social networks using the hashtags #StandWithUkraine, #StopRussianAggression; to print stickers and posters with slogans supporting Ukraine.

Detailed information is available on the website of the Ukrainian Book Institute.

The Ukrainian stand and the support of the organizers of the Bologna Book Fair are an opportunity to widely inform the visitors and participants about the Russian-Ukrainian war, as well as to unite people of the book industry who care. We call on everyone to resist Russian aggression together with us, to translate Ukrainian books into foreign languages so that as many people as possible can hear Ukraine and realize that in this war Ukraine is standing not only for itself, but for the whole Europe.

#StandWithUkraine

The book On the Move by the Agrafka creative studio (Romana Romanyshyn, Andriy Lesiv) from the Old Lion Publishing House won the international competition “Best Book Design from all over the World 2022” by Stiftung Buchkunst.

This same book won the Grand Prix and the nomination Kids Book in the Ukrainian Best Book Design Contest – 2021, which took place within the 10th International Book Arsenal Festival.
At the international competition “Best Book Design from all over the World”, the book On the Move by the Agrafka creative studio was awarded one of the five diplomas of honour.

This is the second award of the Agrafka creative studio in the competition for the Best Book Design from all over the World by Stiftung Buchkunst. The first award was the bronze medal for the title I see that. Agrafka, the design studio from Lviv, Ukraine, received that award in 2019.

Read more about the winners and the details of this year’s competition on the Stiftung Buchkunst website and on the Stiftung Buchkunst Facebook page.

The competition took place in Leipzig (Germany), where international jury members from 5 countries chose the most beautiful books from all over the world 2022. This year, the jury has considered about 500 applications from around 30 countries, including one Golden Letter Award, gold, silver and bronze medals, as well as 5 diplomas of honour.

The Best Book Design Contest was launched in 2016 by the International Book Arsenal Festival in cooperation with Goethe-Institute Ukraine, supported by the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Buchkunst Foundation.

The Book Arsenal is an international event organized by the Mystetskyi Arsenal. The Festival has been held since 2011, and it annually gathers together more than 200 participating organizations and over 50,000 visitors. In 2019, it received the Literary Festival Award from the London Book Fair (LBF) International Excellence Awards.

Dear colleagues and partners, friends!

This morning, on February 24, Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine. Explosions are heard in many cities of Ukraine, and the enemy’s tanks and heavy artillery crossed the Ukrainian border from the north, the south, and the east. There already are casualties among Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, including children.

We should be preparing now the Book Arsenal to be held in May, exhibitions, and cross-sectoral projects — instead our team focuses the efforts to ensure the safety of our staff, our families, as well as to guard our collection, museum objects (paintings, graphics, fine art), including the artworks by Malevych, Yermylov, Bohomazov, Petrytskyi, Zaretskyi, etc., works of modern art, archaeological finds, and the Old Arsenal building, which is a historical and architectural monument of national importance.
By escalating their 8-year-long aggression with these horrid and disgusting actions against Ukraine, by invading the territory of Ukraine, Russia is attacking the basic, fundamental principles of international peace and security, the pillars of the UN, the very existence of the Ukrainian state. This is a war in the centre of Europe, and this war is not just ours, this is a war against all democratic states — the whole civilized world.
At this time, we need your solidarity and support more than ever. Today’s invasion has the potential of becoming bigger and even deadlier than anything we have seen since World War II. All this will definitely have a global impact on the whole world and very likely — for generations to come.
Everyone of you can help and support us in the following ways:

• Including the information about an ongoing Russian war in Ukraine in your public talks and speeches — during art and literature events, festivals, book fairs, exhibitions; the war that already became a war against the whole civilized world, free thought, democratic values and truth.
• Initiating joint public statements from civil organizations, institutions, and industry associations — writers, publishers, and booksellers, artists and museums; sharing information on the war and the current situation in social media with the hashtag #StandWithUkraine, providing truthful commentaries to international media.
• Sharing the information on human rights and lives of Kremlin’s Ukrainian political prisoners with a hashtag #SolidarityWords. Currently, 127 Ukrainian citizens, including 89 Crimean Tatars, stay in prisons or under house arrest in Russia and temporarily occupied Crimea — for political reasons. Moreover, at least 300 Ukrainians are imprisoned for their identity and disagreement with Russian occupation in the territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
• We kindly ask you in these challenging days to share publicly the successful stories of cooperation with Ukraine, considering that in recent years our country achieved essential progress in arts and literature, cultural diplomacy, sharing and promoting European values. We would like to save in future this important vector and defend the positive milestones that we have mutually achieved.
• If you show your solidarity with Ukraine, support peace and drive attention of your fellow citizens, media and politicians by using the facades of your offices and other available spaces for artistic and symbolic actions showing the colours of Ukrainian flag.
• Highlighting contemporary Ukrainian art and discussing the books of modern writers, who wrote and continue writing about the war in Ukraine, which has been going on for 8 years. On our part, as a leading art institution we are eager to provide you with all the information we have.

The mission of Mystetskyi Arsenal and one of its main projects — the Book Arsenal Festival is to create such interactions between people, communities, and institutions that empower an individual and society. This mission is clearly not about aggression or its escalation, it is not about the forces of evil and destruction either. We, Ukrainians, are a peace-loving nation, but we will defend our land, our families, and our right to freedom and independence. We will also defend our European choice.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine are in full combat readiness and resisting the invaders as best as possible and even more! Over a dozen of Russian fighter jets, tanks, and helicopters are already shot down. With regard to civilians, we are trying to remain calm and do everything that the civilian population needs to be prepared for during warfare.

The Book Arsenal team has been working hard to organize the 11th Book Arsenal Festival in May 2022. In recent months, we have communicated with many of you, inviting guests to participate in the festival program, to take part in business negotiations, and to visit our peaceful, beautiful city of Kyiv this spring.

Despite the invasion is currently in full force, , we believe above all that our Armed Forces along with the support of everyone involved — will stop the enemy and we will be able to meet in Kyiv this spring — to acknowledge and appreciate the principles of humanism, freedom, and critical thinking during the events together with you.

International Book Arsenal Festival,
Mystetskyi Arsenal,
Kyiv, Ukraine

International BarCamp for the book and creative industry will be held for the second time!

Goethe-Institut Ukraine, Frankfurter Buchmesse and Mystetskyi Arsenal invite you to the digital BarCamp “Outside the bubble: New alliances in the book and creative industry” that will be held on December 2nd.

“Events of 2020 catalyze the change,” we had this discussion last year at the book BarCamp. Since then, not only the tools, rhythm and design of the work have changed, but also the expectations. The publishing industry and the book industry are developing, and we – the participants in the process – are growing as well. Now, more than ever, there is a strong urge to unite in professional communities, follow the demand for new creative tasks, think about partnerships with professionals in other areas, know new online tools and, after all, become bolder and braver in order not to get lost in this crazy whirlpool of information, trends and online formats.

BarCamp is an intensive and participatory conference in which the participants themselves can, to a certain extent, shape the program and identify the topics that are relevant to them. There are no viewers at BarCamp, everyone is an active creator. As the leaders of the sections, we have invited 5 well-known experts from Germany.

Focal points of our conversations:

• Scouting: how editors look for the new voices.
• Professional associations: based on the experience of the German Translators Union.
• What it means to be a producer of online content for book promotion.
• Collaborative trends and initiatives of book publishing industry.

So, shall we get out of a narrow, niche “bubble”, then? In the BarCamp format, we bring together the professionals in the areas of publishing, translation, digital marketing and book design, as well as editors-in-chief. We will share our experiences, gain new connections, build personal networks of online contacts, and feel the swiftness of trends.

And yes, we also experience the lack of informal communication with our colleagues from the related fields. Therefore, at the BarCamp, all the participants will have an opportunity not only to communicate in the course of the main program, but also to join a digital party in Gather.Town.

Date of BarCamp: December 2nd, 12:00 to 17:00 (Kyiv time)
Working language: English
Format: online
A Telegram chat will start three days before the event, so that participants and speakers can have an opportunity to talk about the topics and content of BarCamp.
Registration deadline: November 25th, 2021
The applications will be accepted until November 25th on the website of Goethe-Institut in Ukraine.
Partners: Digitizing.Space, Proto produkciia

The Goethe-Institut is the Federal Republic of Germany’s cultural institute, and it is active worldwide. It promotes the study of German abroad and encourages international cultural exchange.

The Mystetskyi Arsenal, being an architectural monument of the 18th century and Ukraine’s flagship cultural institution, brings together various arts – from diverse art practices to music and literature. The multidisciplinary International Book Arsenal Festival, the largest intellectual event in Ukraine, takes place annually within the scope of the institution’s activity.

Once a year Frankfurter Buchmesse turns into the world capital of ideas. It is the most important international trade fair for publishing and content of all kinds. Here, experts from global publishing meet partners from the technology industry and related creative industries such as film and games. Thus, it is the hub of the international rights and licensing trade, and from here new cooperations and business models take their course.

In case you have any questions, please contact:
Mariia Shubchyk
[email protected]
Goethe-Institut Ukraine

Oksana Shсhur
[email protected]
Mystetskyi Arsenal

The 10th International Book Arsenal Festival and Goethe-Institute Ukraine, supported by the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Buchkunst Foundation, announced the winners of the Best Book Design Contest 2021. This year the contest was held for the sixth time. The awarding ceremony was conducted at the Festival’s opening in Kyiv and was also broadcasted online.

The Grand Prix of the Contest was won by the Agrafka creative studio (Romana Romanyshyn, Andriy Lesiv) for the book On the Move (the Old Lion Publishing House). The same publication won the nomination Kids Book. According to the rules of the competition, the winning books will be able to represent Ukraine in the competition ‘Best Book Design from all over the World’ of the Buchkunst Foundation and will be included in the collection ‘The world’s most beautiful books’.

The winner in the nomination Text Book is the publication The Timeless Way of Building.
Author: Christopher Alexander. Published by the Osnovy Publishing. Art director: Hanna Kopylova. Design and layout: Dmytro Denyshchyk, Kateryna Smoliarova.

The winner in the nomination Visual Book is the book NARBUT. Studii. Spohady. Lysty (NARBUT. Studios. Memoirs. Letters) [A Supplemented Reproduction of the “Narbut Anthology”, destroyed in 1933]
Published by RODOVID. Design: Numo Team (Sasha Bychenko, Oleksii Salnykov, and Alina Bielova, Oleh Shedlovskyi).

The jury did not determine a winner in the traditional nominations Experiment and Utility Book, however gave two special awards: ‘For a photo book’ — to a book Lilies. Author: Alexander Chekmenev. Published by MOKSOP. Design: Calin Kruse / FLUUT Grafik-Design.

The special award of the jury ‘For cultural research’ went to a book Flights in Dreams and Reality. Published by the Dovzhenko Centre. Publication concept, cover design, book architectonics, font design: Aliona Solomadina. Selection of illustrations: Olena Honcharuk, Maryna Skyrda. Layout: Kateryna Bolshakova.

The jury also determined the finalists of the contest:

• Maiechka’s Alphabet
  Authors: Ila Varina, Olha Shtonda. Published by the Nebo BookLab Publishing. Cover design, illustrations, font design and architectonics: Olha Shtonda. Layout: Antonina Mykolenko.
• Angst
  Author: Serhii Rafalskyi. Published by Addenda Press. Design: Yaroslava Kovalchuk. Illustrations: Yaroslav Futymskyi.
• On the Move
  Published by the Old Lion Publishing House
  Designed by the Agrafka creative studio
  (Romana Romanyshyn, Andriy Lesiv)
• Curatorial Handbook
  Edited by Oleksandra Pohrebniak, Dmytro Chepurnyi, Kateryna Yakovenko. Published by IZOLYATSIA. Platform for cultural initiatives. Design: Kateryna Lesiv.
• KYIV by Sergiy Maidukov
  Author: Sergiy Maidukov. Published by IST Publishing. Design: Grafprom.
• Lilies
  Author: Alexander Chekmenev. Published by MOKSOP. Design: Calin Kruse / FLUUT Grafik-Design.
• NARBUT. Studii. Spohady. Lysty (NARBUT. Studios. Memoirs. Letters) [A Supplemented Reproduction of the “Narbut Anthology”, destroyed in 1933]
  Published by RODOVID. Design: Numo Team (Sasha Bychenko, Oleksii Salnykov, and Alina Bielova, Oleh Shedlovskyi)
• Flights in Dreams and Reality
  Published by the Dovzhenko Centre. Publication concept, cover design, book architectonics, font design: Aliona Solomadina. Selection of illustrations: Olena Honcharuk, Maryna Skyrda. Layout: Kateryna Bolshakova.
• A Permanent Place of Residence
  Authors: Pavlo Makov and Serhiy Zhadan. Published by IST Publishing. Design: 3Z Studio.
• The Passion
  Author: Jeannette Winterson. Published by the Babylon Library publishing. Publication concept, cover design, illustrations: Bohdana Davydiuk. Book architectonics, layout, font design: Volodymyr Havrysh.
• Production of Presence: What Meaning Cannot Convey
  Author: Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht. Published by IST Publishing. Cover design: 3Z Studio.
• Channels of Wrists
  Author: Olha Olkhova. Published by Sammit Book. Design and layout: Romana Ruban. Photos: Yuliana Paranko. Curator of the project: Yulia Laktionova.
• The Timeless Way of Building
  Author: Christopher Alexander. Published by the Osnovy Publishing. Art director: Hanna Kopylova. Design and layout: Dmytro Denyshchyk, Kateryna Smoliarova.

A total of 227 books were submitted to the Best Book Design Contest 2021.This year’s jury: Jan Wenzel (Leipzig, Germany), Jonas Voegeli (Switzerland), Oksana Barshynova, Varvara Perekrest, Kyrylo Tkachov, Nika Kudinova, Hlib Kaporikov (Ukraine).

The partner of the contest was Visa, which presented MacBook Air to the winner of the Grand Prix, as well as prepared valuable prizes for the winners of categories and special awards. The finalists also received valuable presents from the International Photobank Depositphotos and Resident books, the official representative of TASCHEN publishing house in Ukraine.

For the winner of the Grand Prix, the Goethe-Institute Ukraine provides reimbursement of travel expenses to attend the Frankfurt Book Fair for the person who made the greatest contribution to the artistic embodiment of the winning book, as well as a 6-day entrance ticket to the Frankfurt Book Fair for a publisher or designer.

The media partner of the contest is Telegraf.Design. The educational partner is Projector. The Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine and the City of Leipzig (https://english.leipzig.de/) are partners of the contest, which organized the participation of international members of the jury.

The broadcast of the ceremony was provided by MEGOGO with the support of the Festival’s partner — Visa.

142 meetings between Ukrainian and international publishers have taken place during the Ukrainian Literature: Rights On! Program 

This year, 21 Ukrainian and 41 international publishers from 22 countries have joined the meetings. This year, all the meetings have taken place on the Hopin platform, which made it possible to hold multiple meetings simultaneously, bringing together people from around the world.

Most of the partners were from EU countries.

Slovenia is a small market with two millions of population, but we continue to publish all types of books at a very high level. Within the logistical constraints, the meetings organized by the Book Arsenal team are important for immersion into tne Ukrainian book market. We have held 20 meetings, and we hope for good results

— Senja Požar, Senior Foreign Partnerships Manager at Mladinska knjiga and Cankarjeva založba (Slovenia).

Representatives from Singapore, Indonesia, Croatia, India, Malaysia, and Iran have taken part for the first time.

We are happy to participate in these meetings, to know more about the key players of the Ukrainian book market, and to form the vision of our cooperation in the future. We are also impressed by the technical level of the meetings’ organization. We hope that next year we will foster our acquaintance with Ukrainian partners

said Wedha SY, Rights Manager at Gramedia Publishers (Indonesia).

This year, the level of interest of the international publishers has grown significantly, even compared to 2020. They are ready to buy and publish the projects by Ukrainian authors! The organizers were in touch with us almost 24/7 and offered a very good selection of publishers — from Asia and Oceania to Latin and North America. The portfolio of international publishers was also diverse, so I believe that it was easy for all Ukrainian participants to find partners for the meetings

said Kateryna Natidze, Rights & Trade Director at Ranok Publishing House. 

A lot of participants had to learn digital tools that are new for them. The inclusive format and the extraordinary support of two strong organizing teams made this event not only possible, but also quite successful

said Anastasia Sylenok, Co-founder of Digitizing.Space, the technical partner of the event.

On the one hand, over the past year, publishers have learned on their own how to successfully negotiate in the context of social distance, as evidenced by the record number of published translations from Ukrainian into foreign languages. On the other hand, the expert presentation of the Ukrainian literary scene through video lectures, the cooperation with cultural institutions in the country, notifications of grant opportunities, important book prizes, and advocacy through ambassadors — all this forms foreigners’ comprehensive idea about Ukraine as a reliable and promising partner

said Oksana Khmeliovska, the Curator of the project.

Just giving translation grants is not enough. We need to be heard abroad, so that there is someone to receive these grants. And that is why this project is so important for the House of Europe. This is an opportunity for international publishers not only to learn more about our literature, but also to agree on cooperation with Ukrainian colleagues during online B2B meetings. Last year, some of the international publishers that applied for our Translation Grants had signed a rights acquisition agreement thanks to the Ukrainian Literature: Rights On! Program. We hope that this year the project will again catalyze the emergence of new translations

said co-coordinator of the project Dzvinka Hanna Pinchuk, Translation Grant Officer at House of Europe. 

Online B2B meetings are the final component of the Ukrainian Literature: Rights On! Project that took place within the 10th International Book Arsenal Festival. The first component was the educational program—interactive online lectures and workshops from leading global experts on June 7–9.

Educational programs give an opportunity not only to upgrade the skills, but also to learn how international professionals pave their way to success. This gives you the tips on how a Ukrainian publisher should move forward. Vivat uses valuable advice from the lectures, and it should be mentioned that we have made some progress. This year I have had many more meetings where I promoted literature for export, and not my international partner. Even if there were partners who were only interested in selling rights, I managed to get contacts of those who buy, so for me the meetings will continue

said Nataliia Miroshnyk, Foreign Rights Manager at Vivat Publishing House.

The International Book Arsenal Festival has been held annually since 2011 by Mystetskyi Arsenal in its historical building. It is an important intellectual event in Ukraine where the book, music, performative and visual art scenes interact, where important issues of human existence as well as society and culture, are discussed and reflected on, prompting actions from participants and visitors.

The mission of the Book Arsenal Festival is to create interactions where the aesthetic experience and intellectual engagement generated by a book enhances the ability of society to progress.

House of Europe is an EU-funded programme fostering professional and creative exchange between Ukrainians and their colleagues in EU countries and the UK. The programme focuses on culture and creative industries, education, health, social entrepreneurship, media, and youth.

The exchange encompasses 20+ separate programmes including conferences, professional events, internships, and networking in the EU and the UK, as well as study tours, residencies, trainings, and other forms of support. House of Europe funds cultural coproductions and cooperation between Ukrainian organisations and their counterparts in the EU and the UK, along with the development of cultural infrastructure and artistic concepts for youth in Ukraine. Finally, the programme provides various youth camps and an intra-Ukrainian university exchange. Implementation of the program is led by the Goethe-Institut, with the British Council, Institut francais, and Czech Center as Consortium partners.

The Jubilee International Book Arsenal Festival is ending this night on June 27 with a loud concert by Zhadan I Sobaky band. The festival lasted 5 days, and Mystetskyi Arsenal brought together more than 200 publishers, illustrators and cultural institutions. More than 300 events were held within the Festival — book presentations, discussions, concerts, performances, and lectures. 16 exhibitions took place at the Mystetskyi Arsenal building during the Festival.

Adhering to quarantine norms, the physical space of the historic building of Mystetskyi Arsenal received 30% fewer people than in 2019. However, for the first time, thousands of people from all over Ukraine and the world had an opportunity to watch most of the events in a free broadcast on MEGOGO supported by Visa. In particular, in 187 libraries of Ukraine and all over the world, where people gathered to watch broadcasts of the Festival together. Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, the Mystetskyi Arsenal Director, says that the organizers did not even expect such a success:

The Festival was being prepared in conditions of complete uncertainty, the circumstances in which it was organized were constantly changing. However, the mood of the team remained the same — to hold the 10th Book Arsenal Festival no matter what, to support at least a little book and art environment, albeit at an uncommon time — in June instead of May, albeit with a minimum number of visitors. However, the results exceeded our expectations: readers, writers, publishers, illustrators, designers, musicians, and artists finally met together. And the book has been and remains a field of interaction for these people

Under the conditions of quarantine restrictions, Book Arsenal has changed — tickets were sold only online. In addition to the traditional persons entitled to benefits — combat veterans, people with disabilities, children under 12, museum workers, ISOM card holders — this year, free admission was provided for elderly people with pension certificates. The Festival has limited the number of free invitations for participants and professional audiences.

For the safety of children and their parents, the Kids Section of the 10th Book Arsenal Festival was built in the yard of the museum complex for the first time. Yuliia Kozlovets, the Festival Coordinator, sums up:

This year, we implemented many non-traditional solutions. We have done and continue to do what we have never done until this June. Thanks to these solutions, we were able to make the Mystetskyi Arsenal building more spacious and avoid crowds of people. Visitors and publishers had more space, more air, and felt freer. We have also gathered feedback from everyone and will improve the conditions for participation in the Festival for 2022

The Focus theme of the Festival was OPTIMISTS SKEPTICS, curator of the Focus theme was Rostyslav Semkiv. The invited curator-writer was Serhiy Zhadan. In total, the 8 curatorial programs were created. The curatorial team included Olga Zhuk, Oksana Khmeliovska, Oksana Shchur, Liubov Morozova, Iryna Slavinska, Yuliia Kozlovets, Tania Rodionova.

The Festival will also include B2B meetings (July 5-7) between Ukrainian and foreign publishers to establish cooperation and purchase of rights to Ukrainian books. Negotiations will take place within the framework of the Ukrainian Literature Rights On! Program. The project is held for the second year.

The aim of the program is to inspire foreigners’ interest in Ukrainian books and enable Ukrainian publishers to start or increase exporting by establishing direct contacts at B2B meetings with foreign partners during the International Book Arsenal Festival 2021.

This year, the Ukrainian Literature Rights On! Program is a joint project of the Book Arsenal Festival and the EU House of Europe program. The project partners are Creative Europe and the public diplomacy departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

Within the framework of the Festival the Best Book Design Contest was held. The book Where To And Where From (the Old Lion Publishing House) by the Agrafka creative studio (Romana Romanyshyn, Andriy Lesiv) won the Grand Prix. This book will represent Ukraine in the world book design competition of the Buchkunst Foundation and will be included in the collection The Most Beautiful Books in the World.

The jubilee Book Arsenal partners are Visa and Zagoriy Foundation.

Serhiy Zhadan’s writer’s program was supported by Uklon, and the Ukrainian Book Institute was the co-organizer of the Kids&Teens Program.

More than 400 volunteers joined the work of the 10th Book Arsenal Festival.

The International Book Arsenal Festival has been held by Mystetskyi Arsenal since 2011. Its mission 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 10th International Book Arsenal Festival has announced the Program, which includes 261 events that will take place inside the historic building of Mystetskyi Arsenal 34,000 sq. m in area and in its courtyard in Kyiv.

The anniversary Book Arsenal Festival will start on Wednesday, June 23 and, traditionally, the key event of the opening ceremony will be the announcement of the winners of the Best Book Design Contest. The festival will broadcast the event live and everyone, even those who do not get to the opening on this day, will know what book will be recognized as the best one and will represent Ukraine at the world competition.

The opening ceremony will be continued by the presentation of the book Nustokim krūpčiot. Prezidentė Dalia Grybauskaitė with the participation of the author Daiva Ulbinaitė, as well as the main character of the book – the President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė.

And at the end of the opening day, there will be the event of the Special Writer’s Program Out Loud. About Yourself curated by Serhiy Zhadan: a Ukrainian-German concert Singing Bats, with the participation of the curator of the Program and his German friends Wladimir Kaminer and Yuri Gurzha. In partnership with Goethe-Institut in Ukraine. All the events of the Out Loud. About Yourself Program will take place every night on the Outdoor Stage of Book Arsenal.

OPTIMISTS SKEPTICS focus theme curated by Rostyslav Semkiv presents 8 events, including Oksana Zabuzhko’s topic-based lecture Optimism of Ukrainian History.

The Kids&Teens Program is the largest in Book Arsenal. Curator Yuliia Kozlovets named it Experience of Inexperience. The program will include 56 events: performances, meetings with writers, workshops and lectures for children and parents. For safety, the entire children’s part of the Festival is relocated in the yard of Mystetskyi Arsenal – there is going to be a fair of children’s literature and the Children’s Stage.

Liubov Morozova’s Music Program Seven Strings for Uncle Mykhailo is presented by 4 concerts of contemporary classical music.

The visual content of Book Arsenal consists of 14 exhibition projects, including School Interlining by Vlada Ralko and Ukrainian Collage by Yevhen Karas, Oleksandr Liapin, and Oleh Vasylenko.

An integral part of Book Arsenal is the Veteran Tent, a place where the literature of Ukrainian authors defending Ukraine in the Russian-Ukrainian war is widely presented.

The anniversary Book Arsenal Festival partners are Visa and Zagoriy Foundation.

Serhiy Zhadan’s Writer’s Program was supported by Uklon, and the Ukrainian Book Institute co-organized the Kids&Teens Program.

Mass media representatives’ accreditation is by the link. Please note that it will be closed on June 11.

In 2019, the International Book Arsenal Festival was recognized as the Best Literary Festival of the Year. It is aimed at creating such interactions between people, communities, and institutions, when the combination of aesthetic experience and intellectual involvement in the context of the book strengthens the capacity of man and society.