On April 27, the Leipzig Book Fair began in Leipzig, Germany, where Ukraine is also presenting its national stand.
The Leipzig Book Fair 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 Leipzig Book Fair takes place simultaneously with Manga-Comic-Con and Leipzig liest (“Leipzig reads”) from April 27 to 30, 2023.
On the first day of the fair, the opening ceremony of the Ukrainian stand took place. It was attended by the director of the fair Oliver Zille, deputy director of the Ukrainian Book Institute Olena Odynoka, director of the Goethe-Institut UkraineFabian Mühlthaler, art manager and contemporary art curator Olesia Ostrovska-Lyuta, cultural manager and translator, director of the Poetry Festival “Meridian Czernowitz” Yevhenia Lopata, counselor-envoy of the Embassy of Ukraine in Germany Maksym Yemelianov, head of the representative Office of the Ukrainian Institute in Germany Kateryna Rietz-Rakul, head of the working group of the Federal Agency for Civic Education Kateryna Stetsevych.
The Minister for Culture and the Media of Germany, Claudia Roth, visited the Ukrainian national stand and expressed her support to Ukraine. As well as German diplomat and journalist Ralf Beste, head of the Department of Culture and Communications of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, cultural project manager of Creative Europe Arnaud Pasquali, director of the Federation of European Publishers Anna Bergman, and partners of the Tales of EUkraine project, including the Association of German Publishers and Book Distributors also visit this event.
The Ukrainian program of events, which is taking place with the support of the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine, opened with a discussion about the best book design in Ukraine and the world, with the participation of the coordinator of the literary projects at the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine Maria Shubchyk, communicator of the German Stiftung Buchkunst book design award Carolin Blöink and director of the “Book Arsenal” Yuliia Kozlovets, who spoke about the experience of organizing the “Best Book Design – 2022” award and the preparation of the “Book Arsenal – 2023” in the conditions of russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
Additionally, a discussion on military photography took place at the Ukrainian stand, moderated by translator and journalist Kateryna Mishchenko, with film director Oksana Karpovych. Curator and translator Kateryna Botanova, poet, translator, philosopher, translator, cultural theorist Ovidiu Tichindeleanu and Olesia Ostrovska-Lyuta spoke about decolonization and liberation from the shadow of empire.
It should be noted that the main theme of the stand is the project of Daria Bila and Sophia Hupalovska, presented for the first time at the London Book Fair, the “Destroyed Library” exposition featuring furniture from institutions damaged by shelling. The slogan of the stand — “Sensitive Content” — reflects the destruction of Ukrainian libraries as a result of russia’s full-scale invasion against Ukraine.
The national stand of Ukraine and its program of events is presented at the with joint efforts of the Leipzig Book Fair, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media, Neustart Kultur, Ukrainian Book Institute, Goethe-Institut Ukraine, Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Embassy of Ukraine in the Federal Republic of Germany, Ukrainian Institute, Book Arsenal, Meridian Czernowitz Publishing House, Vienna-based Institute for Human Sciences, and Federal Agency for Civic Education, Germany.
