Russia's attack on Ukraine condemned by international book trade bodies
International trade bodies have condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine and issued statements standing in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Meanwhile the organisers of the Book Arsenal Festival in Kyiv have asked people to share publicly the successes that cultural co-operation with Ukraine has achieved in recent years.
Russian forces launched a major military assault on Ukraine on Thursday 24th February.
The Federation of European Publishers (FEP) described the attack as a "threat not just to Europe but also to the entire world". In a statement it said: "Our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine and of the region, and especially with our colleagues; authors, translators, publishers, booksellers, and librarians. Keep writing, translating, publishing, and giving access to books. Even if they are a fragile rampart against the bombs, books and reading are essential to democracy.
"Ukraine is a free country in a free Europe, and has the right to peace and democracy, for its citizens to live in safety, and to territorial integrity.
"We are very fortunate that this year, Ukraine is one of the participating countries in the European Union Prize of Literature (EUPL). Ukraine is part of Creative Europe, of our common European family, and we believe that literature brings a message of peace and allows all European citizens to be “united in diversity”."
The Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, Germany’s publishers and booksellers association, also issued a joint appeal from the Börsenverein, Frankfurter Buchmesse, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, MVB, and Mediacampus Frankfurt. It said they were “outraged by Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine”.
“We appeal to the Russian people and their president to stop the deliberate destruction of peace and freedom in Europe," they said. "And we send words of solidarity to the people of Ukraine: you are part of an international community that supports human dignity, democratic participation and equality for all. You have a right to peace."
The Italian Publishers Association (IAE) announced that it stood in solidarity with the Ukrainian population. President Ricardo Franco Levi said: "The war in Europe takes us back to years and historical events that we never wanted to relive. Peace is the precondition and at the same time the fruit of freedom of thought and expression, values that are at the heart of democracy and the mission of every publisher. Our thoughts go to the Ukrainian women and men, in particular to our fellow publishers and to the world of culture as a whole, committed to keeping alive the conscience of a people today under the bombs.
"Today more than ever we hope that in every nation the critical voice of intellectuals, writers, men of peace and the world of culture will be raised so that they can bring Europe back on the path of freedom and co-existence".
PEN International president Burhan Sonmez also spoke out, saying the organisation "utterly condemns the violence unleashed by Russian forces onto Ukraine, and urgently calls for an end of the military aggression". Sonmez added: "The bloodshed must stop now. We stand with Ukraine, our friends at PEN Ukraine, and call on President Putin to stop this war immediately." Ruth Borthwick, chair of English PEN, said her organisation also stood "in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, with its writers, journalists and translators, and with our colleagues at PEN Ukraine."
The organisers of the 11th Book Arsenal Festival in Kyiv and its venue, the Mystetskyi Arsenal, released a statement calling on people to "share publicly the successful stories of co-operation with Ukraine", saying it was especially important given the "essential progress in arts and literature, cultural diplomacy sharing and promoting European values" made in recent years. "We would like to save in future this important vector and defend the positive milestones that we have mutually achieved," they said.
In 2019 the Book Arsenal Literary Festival won the Literary Festival Award at the London Book Fair International Excellence Awards and in 2020 the Ukrainian Book Institute launched a Translate Ukraine grant programme to encourage foreign publishers to acquire rights from Ukrainian publishers. Odessa and Lviv are both UNESCO Cities of Literature and as such have collaborated with the British Centre for Literary Translation in fellow UNESCO City Norwich.
