European Publishers’ Associations and the Ukrainian Book Institute launch Tales of EUkraine in Bologna. The project will provide bilingual books for Ukrainian refugee children in Europe.

The Federation of European Publishers (FEP) and the Ukrainian Book Institute (UBI) will present for the first time the project Tales of EUkraine (TEUk) during the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, on 6 March 2023 at 3 pm at the BBPlus Theatre.

TEUk is a project co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission, which aims to print and distribute bilingual editions of children's books to Ukrainian children displaced in several European countries. It is an opportunity for European publishers to support their Ukrainian counterparts and to display their solidarity to the most vulnerable victims of the conflict by doing what they do best: publishing books.

Ricardo Franco Levi, President of the Federation of European Publishers and of the Italian Publishers Association, declared: “Since the beginning of the Russian aggression of Ukraine, European publishers have been showing solidarity toward their Ukrainian colleagues. We are grateful to the European Commission for recognising the value of Tales of EUkraine. Thanks to TEUk, European publishers will be able to continue helping Ukrainian refugees and at the same time support recovery in Ukraine.”

Sonia Draga, Vice-President of the Federation of European Publishers and President of the Polish Chamber of Books, stressed the cultural relevance of the project: “TEUk shows the solidarity of European publishers with Ukraine’s fight for democracy and freedom of speech. Books can preserve Ukrainian culture and freedom from the blows of Russian propaganda, and Tales of EUkraine will help hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children to keep a connection with their homeland while integrating in their host countries.” 

TEUk will produce a rights catalogue of more than 100 Ukrainian children’s books available for purchase in different European territories. With the support of their national associations, publishers can acquire the rights for the books and publish them. Their national publishers’ associations will then acquire a substantial part of the printed copies with the contribution of the Creative Europe funding and will supervise their distribution, which will rely on a network of NGOs, public institutions, and other entities. 

Tales of EUkraine will run for three years, until October 2025. Publishers’ associations partners in the project are: the Italian Publishers’ Association – AIE, the Polish Chamber of Books – PIK, the German Publishers and Booksellers Association – BOEV, the Romanian Publishers’ Association – AER, the Bulgarian Publishers’ Association – ABK, and the Slovak Chamber of Books – ZVKS. More associations will be involved in the course of the project. 

All the updates on the project’s development will be available on TEUk’s blog and social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Inquiries should be directed at [email protected].

FEP is an independent, non-commercial umbrella association of book publishers’ associations in the European Union. FEP represents 29 national associations of book publishers of the European Union and of the European Economic Area. FEP is the voice of the great majority of publishers in Europe. 
 
Founded in 1967, FEP deals with European legislation and advises publishers’ associations on copyright and other legislative issues.