Zelensky opens Lviv BookForum with support from Atwood and Gaiman

Ukraine’s largest literary festival, Lviv BookForum, has opened with messages of support from President Volodymyr Zelensky, supported by authors appearing at the event including Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman.

The hybrid event aims to create a civic space for a “free and tolerant exchange of ideas” between the global reading community. For the first time this year, it is partnering with Hay Festival, which will broadcast the panel discussions in English, Spanish and Ukrainian. Hay will also be offering online events pairing international writers with their Ukrainian counterparts. 

This year, the festival includes 40 writers and thinkers participating in conversations about art in times of conflict alongside themes of memory, gender equality, loss, corruption, imperialism and hope. In his opening statement of support, Zelensky – who will also address the Frankfurt Book Fair this month – focused on the hope and freedom culture and books can offer.

“I sincerely welcome BookForum in hospitable Lviv, an important book publishing event that holds its intellectual front in this difficult time,” he said. “For more than half a year, the world has witnessed how Russian aggression has been destroying our territories, Ukrainian culture, language and books as a symbol of freedom and indomitability of our people. 

“Today, when the armed forces of Ukraine are courageously defending their native country from the enemy invasion, it is vitally important for us to preserve our national culture and identity. That is why, on all platforms, we bring the truth to the world about what is happening now in Ukraine, about the Russians’ arbitrary actions and crimes against humanity.”

Programme highlights include Atwood in conversation with Ukrainian psychologist Yurii Prokhasko, Turkish writer Elif Shafak in conversation with Ukrainian novelist Kateryna Kalytko and Israeli anthropologist Yuval Noah Harari and Gaiman in conversation with Ukrainian journalist Sevgil Musayeva.

Ukrainian historian Olena Stiazhkina will also appear in an event with with Nobel Prize-winning author Abdulrazak Gurnah and Mexican activist Lydia Cacho on post-colonialism.

Atwood said: “Putin’s war is an attack on democracy and freedom, not just in Ukraine but around the world. In joining the Lviv BookForum and Hay Festival programme, I support Ukrainian writers and readers as they share their work. May this theatre of ideas and talent inspire more to raise their voices and share their gifts.”

Gaiman added: “It’s an honour and a privilege to be a part of the 29th Lviv BookForum. It’s Ukraine’s biggest literary festival, and it says a lot that, even in the dark days of a war that should never have been necessary, the festival continues in a brave act of resistance and allows writers like me to stand in solidarity with the writers and the readers of Ukraine. With the help of Hay Festival, the programming of the Lviv BookForum can reach millions of people around the world. And that includes you, wherever you are. Come and listen and learn.”