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.

The International Book Arsenal Festival has decided to surpass the results of last year’s Ukrainian Literature: Rights On! Program, and announces the start of its second season.

This year, Ukrainian Literature: Rights On! Will be a joint project of the Book Arsenal and the EU programme House of Europe. The partners of the project are Creative Europe and the Department of Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

The main goal of Ukrainian Literature: Rights On! programme is to stimulate translations of Ukrainian books abroad, and to strengthen the competencies of Ukrainian publishers in selling rights abroad.

Ukrainian Literature: Rights On! Program comprises 4 components:

• The educational program — interactive online lectures and workshops from leading global experts on effective sale of rights and new promising markets. It will take place on June 7-9.
• English video lectures with reviews of Ukrainian literature and book publishing, grant opportunities for translators that will continue the series recorded in 2020.
• B2B meetings that will take place on July 5-7 between Ukrainian and international publishers aimed at establishing cooperation and buying rights for Ukrainian books.
• The special project “Ukrainian Literature: Rights On!” on Chytomo website dedicated to 10 stories about successful literary agencies of the world and their inner mechanics, aimed at inspiring the community to create literary agencies in Ukraine.

In 2020, the program included 147 online meetings between Ukrainian and foreign publishers and literary agents. 37 foreign participants from 24 countries participated in the meetings. This has become a record for all the years of Ukraine’s independence, and this year the team is going to surpass these results.

According to the research by the Ukrainian Book Institute, the export potential of Ukrainian book publishing is 80-100 million dollars. In addition to the economic factor, it is also important for us to promote Ukrainian culture abroad, to create ties between people and companies, and to build understanding between societies by means of books. This is an opportunity for Ukraine to be heard and understood. Last year, thanks to our program, Ukrainian book publishing was able to enter both large traditional markets, such as Canada, USA, France, and new, even somewhat exotic ones: Macedonia, Romania, Mexico, Greece, Finland, Denmark, etc. But we have no intention to stop there

said Oksana Khmeliovska, the Curator of the project.

The times of pandemic and limited mobility require not a reduction, but rather an increase in international exchanges and cooperation. And when Europe, more than ever, needs to keep Ukraine in perspective, nothing can be better than the internationalization of Ukrainian literature and the professionals who create it. The Book Arsenal Festival does just that — and even more: by organizing the joint program “Ukrainian Literature: Rights On!” to establish and support connections between Ukrainian and international publishers, the House of Europe and the Book Arsenal Festival are moving to a new level of cooperation

said Christian Diemer, House of Europe Head of Programme.

How to apply?

Read the information in the call carefully and complete the online form.

Deadline: 12 June 2021 at 24:00 Kyiv time.

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

The mission of the Book Arsenal Festival is to create such interactions when the combination of aesthetic experience and intellectual engagement in the context of the book enhances the ability of man and society.

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.

This encompasses 20+ separate programme lines enabling to go for conferences, professional events, internships, and networking in the EU and the UK, or to enrol in study tours, residencies, trainings, and other forms of support. House of Europe funds cultural coproductions and cooperations 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 offers various youth camps and an intra-Ukrainian university exchange.

Yesterday the lockdown was extended and we understand that its end date may be indefinite — the situation with the COVID-19 is threatening. With such instability, it’s impossible to plan such a large-scale event. We understand that we have two options — either to cancel the offline Book Arsenal this year or to try to save the festival. We’ve chosen the second one,

Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, the Mystetskyi Arsenal Director, says.

In June, the Festival will retain its hybrid format: the book fair, curatorial events, awarding the winners of the Best Book Design Contest and the Antytvir Competition will take place offline at Mystetskyi Arsenal. Part of these events will comprise the Book Arsenal Online Program, which can be viewed from anywhere in the world. The Professional Development Programs for publishers and literary managers will be held online, including the Ukrainian Literature: Rights On! program, which aims to encourage translation of Ukrainian literature abroad.

Tickets for the 10th International Book Arsenal Festival will be sold exclusively online. The Festival provides for a time slot visiting — you can buy a ticket only for a certain slot and enter Mystetskyi Arsenal at a certain time. This will help avoid queues and crowds, which could be dangerous.

The start of ticket sales, as well as the 10th Book Arsenal program will be announced additionally.

The International Book Arsenal Festival was founded by Mystetskyi Arsenal in 2011 and has been held by the institution since then. Each year, it hosts more than 100 foreign guests, more than 200 publishers and cultural institutions, and more than 55,000 visitors.

In 2019, the International Book Arsenal Festival won The Literary Festival Award of The London Book Fair International Excellence Awards 2019. 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 was scheduled for May 20-24, 2020, but did not take place due to the pandemic and lockdown.

Mystetskyi Arsenal invites publishers, literary agents, representatives of cultural institutions, and everyone who plans to participate in the 10th International Book Arsenal Festival to the online meeting with Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, director of the Mystetskyi Arsenal, Yuliia Kozlovets, coordinator of the Book Arsenal Festival, and Oksana Khmeliovska, curator of the Professional Development Programs.

The meeting will take place on Friday, February 5, at 11 AM.

To participate, please register till February 4, 8 PM on: https://forms.gle/TUn8huSnWQWJSYQG7. You will be sent a link to the online meeting after your registration.

At the meeting, you will learn about the updated terms of participation, the hybrid format of the Festival, and the new opportunities for book industry experts, which are offered by this year’s Book Arsenal. You will also be able to ask questions to the organizers and get answers to them.

The 10th International Book Arsenal Festival is scheduled for May 26-30, 2021. Applications for the publishers and illustrators’ participation in the fair are to be submitted until February 12. Applications for the participation in event program are to be submitted until February 17.

The updated terms of participation in the Book Arsenal can be read here: https://cutt.ly/NkfZoJ2

Apply for participation in the exhibition fair, in the Festival event program.