The Leipzig Book Fair 2026—the most important spring event for the book and media industry—starts in Leipzig (Germany) today, on March 19. Ukraine has been a full participant and an important focus of the Leipzig Book Fair for the past few years. The Leipzig Book Fair 2026 program is designed for 4 days and will run until March 22.
With the support of the fair’s organizers, Ukraine is represented at this year’s Leipzig Book Fair with the National Stand, which is organized by the Ukrainian Book Institute and located in Hall 4, Stand D311.
The Ukrainian Stage will be an important part of the Stand; discussions, readings and presentations on the topics of the war, the culture of remembrance, language, identity, the environmental consequences of the war and Ukraine’s ties with Europe will take place there.
The Ukrainian program will be held under the slogan Filling In, which reflects the desire to fill in the historical and cultural gaps in the global perception of Ukraine.
Within the National Stand, the Mystetskyi Arsenal will present its own selection of exhibition-related book publications, souvenir products and information about the history of the institution and the International Book Arsenal Festival, and will also co-organize a number of events to take place on the stage of the National Stand, on other central stages of the fair and in the premises of the Leipzig Town Hall.
Events Schedule of the Mystetskyi Arsenal
Thursday, March 19, 2026
3:15 p.m.-4:15 p.m. Ukraine. Filling In
Opening of the National Stand of Ukraine | Participants: Astrid Böhmisch, Wolfram Weimer, Sönke Rix, Skadi Jennicke, Volodymyr Sheiko, Yuliia Kozlovets
Location: Ukrainian National Stand (Hall 4, D311)
Friday, March 20, 2026
11 a.m.-11:50 a.m.
The Future of Endangered Languages
Discussion | Participants: Flurina Badel, Ostap Slyvynskyi and Mamure Choban
Location: Ukrainian National Stand (Hall 4, D311)
3:00 p.m.-3:50 p.m.
When Everyday Life Becomes History: Literature, Memory, and Forgetting
Discussion | Participants: Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, Georgi Gospodinov and Ostap Slyvynskyi
Location: Donau-Bühne (Hall 4, D300/C301)
5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.
Cultural Management, Translations, Literary Festivals, Book Fairs in Central and Southeastern Europe
Professional Roundtable | Participants: Robert Şerban (RO), Marilena Tudor (RO), Mariana Porobic (HR), Yuliia Kozlovets (UA), Svetlozar Zhelev (BG)
Location: National Stand of Romania (Hall 4, D401/E400)
Saturday, March 21, 2026
2:00 p.m.-2:50 p.m.
Reactors Do Not Explode. A Brief History of the Chornobyl Disaster
Discussion | Participants: Yuliia Kozlovets, Kateryna Mikhalitsyna and Claudia Dathe
Location: Ukrainian National Stand (Hall 4, D311)
4:00 p.m.-4:50 p.m.
When the Earth Trembles: War, Ecology, and the Stories We Tell
Discussion | Participants: Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, Adrian Ivakhiv, Darya Tsymbaliuk and Philip Hall
Location: Ukrainian National Stand (Hall 4, D311)
Sunday, March 22, 2026
12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m.
When the World Quakes: How Words Can Protect Children
Discussion | Participants: Viktoriia Murovana, Kateryna Mikhalitsyna and Claudia Dathe
Location: Ukrainian National Stand (Hall 4, D311)
3:00 p.m.-3:50 p.m.
Where the Earth Changes: Artistic Perspectives on the Ecological Wounds of War
Discussion | Participants: Franziska Davies, Asia Bazdyrieva, Kateryna Botanova, Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta and Adrian Ivakhiv
Location: Ukrainian National Stand (Hall 4, D311)
6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
When the Land Breaks. Stories, Images, and Practices of Ecological Witnessing
Discussion | Participants: Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, Asia Bazdyrieva, Kateryna Botanova, Adrian Ivakhiv and Hannes Rassmann
Location: Stadt Leipzig Town Hall
The award ceremony for the winners of this year’s The Most Beautiful Books of the World, the international competition organized by the German Foundation Buchkunst, will also be held within the Leipzig Book Fair program. This year, the award’s shortlist includes the Ukrainian book Do You Read Me? On Communication and Understanding Each Other of the art studio Agrafka (Romana Romanyshyn, Andriy Lesiv) and the Old Lion Publishing House. The complete collection of the winning books of our Best Book Design – 2025 contest will be exhibited at the Foundation’s stand throughout the fair.
The full schedule of events for the Ukrainian program can be found at the link.
The Ukrainian program at the Leipzig Book Fair is organized by the Ukrainian Book Institute, Goethe-Institut Ukraine and the House of Europe program, the Ukrainian Institute, the Mystetskyi Arsenal and the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb)) in cooperation with international partners. The Ukrainian Stand at the Leipzig Book Fair was made possible thanks to funding from the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, as well as to the support from the city of Leipzig, NUMO and the German Federal Foreign Office.
Mystetskyi Arsenal is a leading Ukrainian cultural institution that integrates various types of art in its activities—from contemporary art, new music and theater to literature and museum work. The mission of the Mystetskyi Arsenal is to contribute to the modernization of Ukrainian society and the integration of Ukraine into the world context, relying on the value-based potential of culture.
International Book Arsenal Festival is an international event organized by the Mystetskyi Arsenal. The festival has been held since 2011, and over this decade it has become one of the most influential literary and artistic events in Eastern Europe. In 2019, it won The Literary Festival Award of the International Excellence Awards. The mission of the International Book Arsenal Festival is to create such interactions between people, communities, institutions when the combination of aesthetic experience and intellectual inclusion in the context of a book strengthens the capacity of a person and society.
Leipzig Book Fair is the most important spring event for the book and media industry, bringing together readers with authors, publishers and media companies from Germany and around the world. They all come to Leipzig to explore a diverse range of literature, to discover innovations and new perspectives.