Ukraine at Frankfurt

The Frankfurt Book Fair is over and I feel a need to reflect on this year’s presence of Ukraine at the event. Considering that the journey from Frankfurt to Kyiv (and vice versa) now takes about three days, I had time to look back on these busy days at such a large international event.

My impression was that this year, the Ukrainian stands are more visible and impressive. One of the reasons for this is the more thoughtful organisation process and public event programme that ran on the stage of the Ukrainian national stand, as well as the large number of invited speakers from Ukraine, including those from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Another reason is, of course, the sustained and large-scale support from the Frankfurt Book Fair and the German government. The largest in Ukraine’s history, the Ukrainian national stand was named "Fragility of Existence" and presented more than 500 books from over 40 publishers.

At the invitation of the Frankfurt Book Fair, for the second year in a row our publishing house curated a collective stand of Ukrainian art books. We brought together nine Ukrainian independent small publishers working in the field of visual books that address the topics of trauma and historical memory, as well as documenting events and recording achievements in culture. It is difficult to talk about war; sometimes words become diluted and less influential, while visual images function clearly and convincingly. For example, the most popular book at our stand this year was Russian Colonialism 101 by journalist Maksym Eristavi. This is a handbook with 48 examples of Russia’s invasions of neighbouring countries, which gives an understanding of the patterns used by this state to seize the territories of other countries. During the public discussion, Eristavi said that the art book as a medium has acquired new meanings in the debate about Russia’s colonial policy, because when it captures new territories, it always destroys documentary evidence and images. Therefore, the creation of 48 illustrations to portray these historical stories was a conscious and conceptual decision.

While last year we were offered various collaborations and co-publishing proposals as a sign of solidarity, now we feel that we are perceived primarily as partners, and partnership is always about strong positions and mutual exchange

Indeed, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep the international audience focused on Ukraine. New challenges and events arise. Natalia Drapak, manager of Mystetskyi Arsenal, which also represented Ukraine with its own stand, says that last year Ukraine was automatically the focus of the Frankfurt Book Fair, without any additional effort. "They were interested in Ukraine as such. This year, however, interest in what is happening in Ukraine in the professional sphere has come to the fore." For example, which books are published, how, how many, and whether they are of high quality. As a publishing house, we have also noticed this and see that while last year we were offered various collaborations and co-publishing proposals as a sign of solidarity, now we feel that we are perceived primarily as partners, and partnership is always about strong positions and mutual exchange. Such changes encourage us to become better, focus on the market and set new horizons for ourselves.

The discussions about the gradual integration of the Ukrainian book market into the EU one is illustrated by the joint discussions between Ukrainians and foreign speakers. In such discussions, the views of different parties are gauged, and this helps to navigate the current grid of co-ordinates. As one of our interests is book design, it was important for us to see a representative of the Stiftung Buchkunst Award – a platform for rethinking the medium of books and presenting the most beautiful books from Germany and other countries at the Frankfurt Book Fair – talking on the panel with Ukrainian artists, illustrators and publishers.

Another important point of support for the book publishing sector is the establishment of the Chytomo Award 2023, backed by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, and the announcement of the shortlisted publishers and personalities on the first day of the fair. This is very important for Ukraine, where awards in the literary field can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and statistics show that last year the number of books published almost halved from 17,248 to 8,716, and the number of copies fell from 25 million to 9.2 million (survey by the Book Chamber of Ukraine). However, a positive trend is that Ukrainians have started reading more. Thus, according to the surveys, the share of those who use daily reading as a form of leisure in Ukraine increased to 17% in 2023, compared to only 8% in 2020. We hope that such awards will stimulate and revitalise the book market, as the winners will receive not only a financial reward, but also the opportunity to participate in the next Frankfurt Book Fair with their own stand.

In conclusion, I would like to mention the incredible support of Poland, which continues this year in the form of the "Polish Shelf" project by the Polish Book Institute together with the Ukrainian Book Institute. Olena Odynoka, deputy director for international co-operation at the Ukrainian Book Institute, says that the idea is to translate texts from Polish into Ukrainian, involve Ukrainian publishers and printing houses in publishing, and distribute Ukrainian-language translations through library collections. In addition to all the advantages of this project, I would also like to mention that it should partially resolve the issue of "empty shelves" in libraries after books of Soviet and Russian-language literature were removed.

So this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair was  a breath of fresh air, vital for understanding that the Ukrainian book publishing world is alive, albeit facing many challenges. We went back to Ukraine with plans and a strong awareness that in order to continue to be noticed, we need to speak intellectually and professionally, to produce and offer books of the proper quality and unique Ukrainian identity.