The 23d Vilnius Book Fair (VBF), the largest book event in the Baltic countries, was held in Vilnius on February 23–26 under the slogan “700 Lines for Freedom”. Using this slogan, the organizers underlined the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the city of Vilnius and showed their support for Ukraine’s fight against the russian aggression. The Vilnius Book Fair supported Ukraine with the following symbolic gestures: the official blue and yellow symbols of the VBF 2023, weaving of masking nets on all the days of the fair and the fundraising for the Chernihiv-based Mykhailo Kotsubynsky City Library, ruined by russians. One could feel full and deep support of Ukraine and Ukrainians from Lithuania and its people throughout the fair.
“The Ukrainian stand at the Vilnius Book Fair has become a place of power for Ukrainian citizens and a real inspiration for numerous Lithuanian and foreign guests of the stand, including President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda, First Lady Diana Nausėdienė, Speaker of the Seimas of Lithuania Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Minister for Culture of Lithuania Simonas Kairys and Mayor of Vilnius Remigijus Šimašius. It is great that the powerful voice of Ukrainian literature was so loud in Lithuania, and I am sure it was heard far beyond. With their thorough work, Ukrainian writers, literators, publishers and organizers implemented the slogan of this year’s Ukrainian stand ‘Persistence of Being’ in spite of the attempts of the russian aggressor to destroy Ukrainian identity and culture,” Petro Beshta, Ambassador of Ukraine in the Republic of Lithuania said.
Publishers having brought their books to exhibit and sell at the fair point out there was a considerable demand for young adult and children’s books in Ukrainian from both Ukrainians, having been forced to leave Ukraine due to russian aggression, and Lithuanians buying books for their Ukrainian friends. The most popular books were those of the Old Lion Publishing House, Black Sheep Publishing House and Baltia-Druk, in particular books on the history of Ukraine, Lithuania, etc.
The annual contest “Best Baltic Book Design” for the selection of the best book design among books from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia included Ukraine as an invited participant country in 2023, and one of the awards went to the Ukrainian book "No Barriers Manual” published by ist publishing under the patronage of First Lady Olena Zelenska.
“The Ukrainian stand was mostly crowded with Ukrainians, temporarily staying in Lithuania. They came from all over the country to buy Ukrainian books. Besides, Lithuanians also bought books to offer to Ukrainians staying with them or to children going to school and extracurricular activities with their children. Most of all, I was impressed by the Lithuanian couple having a baby on the way. They came to the fair to gather a library for their future child, and it was important to them to make sure there would be books not only in Lithuanian, but also in Ukrainian,” Sofia Cheliak, curator from the Ukrainian Book Institute described the work of the stand.
Groups of Ukrainian children were brought from schools and kindergartens to take part in events on the stage for children (workshops, presentations, readings, etc.). Children were also welcome at the Ukrainian stand. Besides, the stand attracted representatives of Lithuanian libraries, schools and kindergartens, willing to get in touch for further purchase of Ukrainian books for their book collections. In general, Lithuanians were interested in Lithuanian translations of Ukrainian books published by Lithuanian publishers and exhibited at the Ukrainian stand.
“One of the events of our special program was called " Power of the People United in Books." I think, it illustrates Ukraine’s participation in this year’s Vilnius Book Fair. Efforts of many people from different institutions and organizations were united to give Ukraine worthy presentation, to give voice to our authors and intellectuals, to draw attention to the work of book industry professionals and to make Ukraine visible at the most prominent book event of the region. Lithuanians thanked us and the people of Ukraine for resilience and bravery, and we thanked the people of Lithuania for incredible support of our fight against russian aggression in word and deed. I am grateful to everyone and I do believe we will soon invite our Lithuanian colleagues to Kyiv to participate in the Book Arsenal!” Yuliya Kozlovets, coordinator of the International Book Arsenal Festival, said.
The program of the fair featured many events with the participation of Ukrainians. The following representatives of Ukraine took part in the events: Oksana Zabuzhko, Andriy Lyubka, Kateryna Mikhalitsyna, Haska Shyyan, Halyna Kruk, Andriy Lesiv and Romana Romanyshyn, Kateryna Yegorushkina, Oleksandra Matviychuk (remotely), Ihor Mykhailyshyn, Valeriy Markus (remotely), Olena Staranchuk and Oleh Hryshchenko. A lot of Ukrainian authors were invited by Lithuanian publishing houses on the occasion of the publication of Lithuanian translations of their books. Events with the participation of Andriy Lyubka, Kateryna Yegorushkina and Oksana Zabuzhko gathered large audiences, just as poetry readings organized by Lithuanian publishers, having recently published books by Ukrainian authors. Visitors had trouble hiding their emotions while listening to Ukrainian poems and their Lithuanian translations, as well as stories about volunteer work. Each and every one felt involved in Ukraine’s fight against the aggressor, and Ukrainians were grateful to their Lithuanian friends for their incredible support.
On February 24, the Ukrainian delegation joined the meeting in Vilnius on the occasion of the anniversary of russia’s full-scale invasion in Ukraine. Participants carried large flags of Ukraine and Lithuania, and publishers, authors and representatives of the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Lithuania took part as well. The reception at the mayor’s office with the speeches of the mayor of Vilnius and Oksana Zabuzhko, concluded events organized on the occasion of the anniversary of russia’s military aggression in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian delegation was in the focus of the media. Authors from Ukraine took part in the presentations of their books and readings at Vilnius-based libraries and schools. At the end of the work of the Ukrainian stand, books brought by publishers were delivered to the Ukrainian library being formed in the town of Anykščiai and to the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Lithuania.
We cannot thank enough to our Lithuanian partners without whom it would not have been possible to organize the Ukrainian stand at the Vilnius Book Fair, namely to Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Center LITEXPO, Lithuanian Culture Institute and Lithuanian Publishers Association. In order to organize the stand and develop the Ukrainian program for the event the following institutions have joined their efforts: The Ukrainian Book Institute, The Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Lithuania, The Book Arsenal, The Lithuanian Culture Institute, The Pictoric Illustrators Club and the Art Studio Agrafka.
The 23d Vilnius Book Fair in numbers:
Number of visitors: 52.7 thou.
Writers participating in the fair: 180
Events: 531
Please, find photos from the Vilnius Book Fair here (photo: Angelina Trofymchuk, the Ukrainian Book Institute) or here (photo: the Lithuanian Culture Institute).
Reference:
The Ukrainian Book Institute is a government entity, part of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Its mission is to shape state policy in the area of book publishing, promote book reading in Ukraine, support book industry, provide incentives for translations and popularize Ukrainian literature abroad.
